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INTERESTING HALL WITH WHITE PANELING, AND MAHOGANY 
RAIL AND STAIR TREADS. RED TILED FLOOR; OLD LAMP AND 

LANTERN 





















Home Furnishing 

Practical and Artistic 


By ALICE M: KELLOGG 

J W 

Revised by 


AMY L. BARRINGTON 



With Forty-three Illustrations from Photographs 


NEW YORK • FREDERICK A. 
STOKES COMPANY * PUBLISHERS 



















xw 

V\ZAr 


Copyright, 1905, 1924, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 


Copyright, 1904, 1905, by 
The Butterick Piblishing Company, Limited 

All rights reserved 


* 




J 


Printed in the United States of America 


APR - ? ^ 

©C1A7787JU 




PREFACE 


T HE progressive spirit of the new century 
and the rapid artistic development 
throughout our country have awakened a 
widespread, intelligent interest in all matters 
relating to the Art of the House. 

The interior of the home is naturally a re¬ 
flection of its occupants, and the possibility of 
achieving satisfying results has created an 
ardent desire for adequate knowledge. Even 
in homes of moderate cost, an effort to unite 
beauty and utility has become remarkably ap¬ 
parent, and fortunately, artistic surroundings 
are not dependent on large outlays of money. 

There are few homes in which the furnishings 
might not be altered or modified to advantage. 
The point to be kept in view is, in the main, 
how to unite in the best way practical equip¬ 
ment and artistic effect; and this can be ac- 
v 

. . n & 


PREFACE 


complished only by the employment of taste, 
knowledge, experience and judgment. To fur¬ 
nish a home, therefore, requires serious thought 
when the end to be attained is one of harmony, 
simplicity and refinement. 

Too often a house on which an architect has 
expended his utmost skill is ruined interiorly 
by ignorance in selecting the furnishings and 
decorations. The single choice of a wall paper 
may mean a disastrous introduction of glaring 
colours and distracting patterns. Often the 
mere arrangement of the furniture becomes 
as important in obtaining a pleasing interior 
as the design and finish of the different 
pieces. 

No positive set of rules may be laid down 
whereby to solve the various problems of house¬ 
furnishing, without seeing the house and occu¬ 
pants, and knowing the amount of money there 
is to be spent. But there is a field for real 
service at the present time, in showing the re¬ 
sults already attained in this movement and 
in providing helpful information, fitting sug- 


vi 


PREFACE 


gestions, ideas and methods for furnishing the 
home practically and artistically. 

In this second edition of my sister’s book, I 
have revised a few chapters, and introduced 
photographs of special interest. I wish to 
acknowledge the courtesy of Miss Julia Siedler, 
Mrs. Jessie Tarbox Beals, Erskine Danforth 
Corporation, Kensington Mfg. Co., and the 
editors of House and Garden and House Beau¬ 
tiful. 

Amy L. Barrington. 


Vll 




V 









% 












* 





CONTENTS 


PART FIRST 

CHAPTER p AGB 

I. The Hall, Vestibule and Stairs . . i 

II. The Reception Room or Parlour . . 14 

III. The Dining Room. 19 

IV. The Living Room.30 

V. The Library. 42 

VI. The Music Room.50 

VII. The Bathroom.56 

VIII. The Kitchen and the Housemaid’s Room 64 

IX. The Bedroom.74 

X. The Child’s Room. 86 

XI. The Guest’s Room. g 5 

XII. The Veranda. I0 2 

PART SECOND 

XIII. Furniture, New and Old. . . -115 

XIV. Coverings for the Floor . . . *133 

XV. Hangings for the Walls . . . . I45 

ix 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XVI. Curtains and Portieres . . . .155 

XVII. Beds and Bedding. 17 1 

XVIII. Fireplaces .180 

XIX. Bookshelves and Bookcases . . .196 

XX. Window Seats and Cushion Covers . 204 

XXI. Table Settings. 214 

XXII. Lamps and Candlesticks . . . .221 

XXIII. Pictures and Bric-a-brac . . . 230 

XXIV. Baskets and Jardinieres .... 242 
XXV. The Afternoon Tea Table . . . 250 

XXVI . Summer Furnishings for the Country 

House . . . . . . 258 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing page 

Interesting hall with white paneling, and ma¬ 
hogany rail and stair treads. Red tiled floor; 
old lamp and lantern .... Frontispiece 

Exceptionally fine Jacobean oak dresser. Chairs 
and carving show Tudor influence. Drawer- 
pulls of hand beaten hardware .... 4 

Hall in suburban house with foliage wallpaper 
gray in tone. Gray carpet. Sofa covered 
with rose damask. Chippendale mirror and 
bench. Black Hawthorne lamp and shade . 10 

Drawing-room of antiqued white paneling. 

Sofa covered with blue and taupe striped vel¬ 
vet. Wing chair of blue self-colored damask. 
Chinese Chippendale cabinet decorated in 
dull blue. Draperies of yellow linen. Carpet 
rug taupe colored.16 

Dining-room with white paneling. Lowboy 
used as a serving table, filled with glittering 
brass and copper. Samovar from Russia, 
brazier from Spain are reflected in the shin¬ 


ing mahogany of sideboard and floor . . 20 

Group of dining-room furniture, early Ameri¬ 
can finish. Drop leaf cupboard. Windsor 
chairs with pierced splat follow the English 
detail.22 


Exquisite American Hepplewhite sideboard of 
mahogany inlaid with pearwood, satinwood, 
holly, ebony, fiddleback and light mahogany 
xi 


26 




xii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing page 

Dining-room in remodeled farmhouse. Good 
taste shown in simple painted furniture and 
cretonne.28 

Wing chair in generous proportion and line. 
Doorways well hung with block printed linen. 
Simple bookcase always a good feature . . 32 

Maple dresser and rush seated arm chair, early 
American finish. Drawer-pulls and H hinges 
add to the quaint look of this faithful repro¬ 
duction of an old dining-room piece of fur¬ 
niture .44 

Comfortable as well as quaint settee with wide 
arms and wings. Butterfly occasional table . 44 

Wing chair of generous proportion and 
graceful lines. Original owned by General 
Heath, friend of Washington. Spool table, 
early American finish.48 

Bungalow kitchen completely furnished. Zinc 
covered table may be moved nearer the stove, 
to save steps. Floor covered with blue and 
white linoleum. Pots and crockery of blue 
or white as far as it was possible to buy them 64 

Bedroom set of white walnut and maple. 

Early American finish. Glazed chintz dra¬ 
peries; hooked and braided rugs; butterfly 
table and Barlow rocker.76 

Bedroom showing furniture painted Venetian 
green. Mulberry taffeta makes the bed cover¬ 
ing and is also used in the shirred valances of 
the windows. The William and Mary high¬ 
boy is used as a dresser or clothes press . 


82 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


xiii 

Facing page 

een. 

Drapery above bed hung from ceiling to 
facilitate cleaning. Notice the way the mir¬ 
ror is hung with cord and tassels. Draperies 
of English block print.84 

An old picture mirror.92 

A chest for toys.92 

Sun room with wicker furniture and braided 
rugs. Swinging settee piled with comfort¬ 
able cushions, lends an invitation to rest. 

Plant box with trellis for ivy is well designed 106 

Recessed porch with flooring of red tiles. 
Wicker furniture painted black. Cushions 
orange and blue; awning of deeply dyed 
orange. Old ship lanterns.no 

Dresser of mahogany and curly maple. Nice 
detail of the corner posts. Early American 
finish.120 

Simplicity, good form and color mark this ex¬ 
cellent dining-room. Motif on china is re¬ 
peated on chair slats and Welsh cottage 
dresser.120 

Excellent turning is shown in this Cromwellian 
chair of oak. The stretcher is unusually well 
joined.124 

Queen Anne walnut chest of drawers. Burl 
walnut panels with herringbone inlay. En¬ 
graved drawer-pulls. Beautiful mirror frame, 
beveled and molded.124 

Beautiful console table of walnut, cabriole leg, 
and bench covered with gros point needle- 









XIV 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Facing Page 

work in browns and greens. Mirror with 


double frame of silver. Flower holder of 
aubergine colored glass.128 

English oak dresser of 18th century. Oak 
panels inlaid with bands of mahogany. Sim¬ 
ple but beautiful detail of apron on both cup¬ 
board and dresser.130 

Early 18th century rush seated arm chair and 
butterfly table.130 

Navajo method of weaving.138 

An Eastern prayer rug.138 

Bedroom with black enamel furniture decorated 
with small polychrome insets of green and 
blue. Bed drapery of orange and blue linen. 

Gray carpet.176 

Twin mahogany beds.178 

An antique four-posted bedstead .... 178 


Living room in apartment of Mrs. Paul Ripley, 
sculptor. The way the remade fireplace with 
Franklin stove is treated is admirable. Owing 
to the absence of pictures, the attention is 
centralized on the Italian bas-relief on the 


mantel.186 

Panel living room in home of Fred Dana 
Marsh. Interesting treatment of fireplace. 
Egyptian water jars on hearth. Rare, hand 
carved pillars; Tanagra figure . . . . 190 


Light blue Wedgewood china with medallions 
of deeper blue. Bowl blue and rose. Nap¬ 
kins of blue linen edged with gray, embroid¬ 
ered with rose silk. Silver candlesticks with 









ILLUSTRATIONS 


xv 


Facing Page 

rose colored candles. Designed and executed 
by Mrs. A. M. Weaver.216 

Yellow Wedgewood china decorated in cream 
and green. Gray, Italian handworked linen. 

Silver bon-bon dishes and flower holder. 
Decorated by Alice L. Dallimore . . . 216 

Daybed in sitting room of remodeled city 
house. Well designed draperies; pictures are 
hung with good feeling for balance . . . 234 

Small pictures framed alike look better hung 
closely together.236 

Several pictures may be hung from one hook . 236 

A tree tub in pottery.248 

A hammered brass jardiniere.248 

A three-tier stand made of willow .... 248 

Wicker sofa in good style. Print well spaced 
between sidelights. Grass cloth gives a pleas¬ 
ing texture to the walls.260 
































4 










PART FIRST 




HOME FURNISHING 


PRACTICAL AND ARTISTIC 

I 

THE HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 

The impression that a hall leaves with one 
is not so much of detail as of a hospitable or 
inhospitable atmosphere. The furnishings are 
the fewest that are gathered into any room in 
the house, the decorations are the simplest; 
the right selection of each is imperative if the 
hall is to be made attractive. 

Interest in home furnishing is often too 
closely concentrated upon the living rooms to 
the neglect of the hall and stairway; yet the 
latter really exacts the larger amount of atten¬ 
tion, from two standpoints—prominent position 
and constant usage. 

In the early days in England the hall was an 


HOME FURNISHING 


imposing chamber, where much of the social 
life was passed. Tables were brought in at 
meal times, and privacy was secured by screen¬ 
ing off certain portions of the apartment. After 
a time regular rooms were arranged for receiv¬ 
ing visitors, eating and sleeping, and the hall 
became a place distinctive in itself. 

Modern halls are an outcome of all of the 
styles that have gone before. Sometimes they 
appear simply as a means of egress and entrance, 
and as a passageway into the various rooms of 
the house. Or, the hall is sometimes combined 
with the reception room or parlour, or made 
the chief living room in the establishment. 

The wide, straight hallway, of colonial 
architecture, that extended from the front of 
the house to the back, is still seen in many 
modern homes, besides those constructed after 
the old style. A treatment that followed the 
early colonial is that of placing the staircase 
in a passageway out of sight of the front door, 
at the right or left of the entrance. This 
kind of hall, with the doors at opposite ends, 


HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


makes a pleasant sitting place in summer, 
when cool currents of air draw through the 
openings. As to the furnishing of the hall, we 
should use material that is not only indicative 
of the family taste, but is neither less nor more 
worthy than that used in the other rooms. 

In the suburban hall there is more room for 
expression than there is in the apartment. 
Should the floors be tiled, so much the better, 
for there is nothing more attractive. One 
might call the tiled floor an architectural fea¬ 
ture of the house, and as such, a part of the 
furnishing already happily accomplished. Next 
to tiling, the floor would be of hard wood. 
The English use linoleum for halls, and it has 
its advantages, presenting as it does, a smooth, 
hard surface without seam. In America, we 
are more apt to relegate it to the kitchen or 
back entry, or use it when the floors are rough 
and uneven. 

In an old farmhouse, remodeled, the entire 
first floor was covered with battleship linoleum 
of a warm brown color. As the floors were in 


3 


HOME FURNISHING 


poor condition, it was used in preference to re¬ 
flooring with wood because it was less expensive. 

As for the walls of the hall, panelling is one 
or rather the most desirable, of treatments. 
Unfortunately, it is one of the most costly also. 
Wall paper is the next thing to consider. 
Violent colors and contrasts have been super¬ 
seded by the more neutral tints. This is a 
natural reaction from the strong reds and blues 
used so commonly a few years ago. Some of 
the quaint picture papers of the 18th century, 
or foliage designs, look well with white wood¬ 
work. Grass cloth, vellum and stippled papers 
are charming in the gray, tan or ivory tones. 

A paper that simulates a fabric is usually a 
good choice if neutral in color. A self-toned 
figured paper is permissible, and will stand 
wear better than a perfectly plain paper. A 
striped paper of very fine lines, in black and 
white, gray and white, tan and brown, gives 
a good appearance and is more unusual. Some 
of the stippled papers are very beautiful and 
seem as if they were done by hand. If the 


4 



Courtesy of Kensington Mfg. Company, N. Y. 

EXCEPTIONALLY FINE JACOBEAN OAK DRESSER. CHAIRS AND CARVING SHOW TUDOR 

INFLUENCE. DRAWER-PULLS OF HAND BEATEN HARDWARE 






























































































































































































HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


plaster is rough, it may be painted a warm 
gray, dull orange or stippled with two or three 
colors, one over the other. If this is done well, 
it gives a delightful quality to the wall surface. 

The furniture for the hall of the suburban 
house, as well as for the apartment hall, should 
be chosen for its dignity and beauty. A formal 
treatment is to be preferred to a hit-or-miss 
selection and arrangement. The table will be 
preferably oak or walnut, and the chairs of a 
straightbacked type. With a walnut table of 
Italian design chairs of the same period should 
be used, although some of the carved English 
models are also suitable as they are of the 
same epoch. There is more of a variety in the 
Elizabethan styles. 

The term Elizabethan furniture is used broad¬ 
ly, also taking in the reigns of James and Charles. 
To cover a longer period the name Jacobean is 
frequently applied. Charles had a distinct in¬ 
fluence on the styles of the times. He was a 
great spender and had lived long enough in 
France to imbibe opinions and tastes quite dif- 


5 


HOME FURNISHING 


ferent from his predecessors on the English 
throne. His chairs, still shown in museums, 
are beautifully carved, some with the crown 
surmounting his initials, and the original caning 
in the back and seat. 

On each side of the table (if there is room), 
place the selected chairs, and over the table a 
mirror—so indispensable for that last look. Let 
the framing of the mirror follow the type of 
table, for there are all kinds of frames as there 
are all kinds of chairs and tables. If you have 
a good mirror and know the frame to be in poor 
taste, have it reframed in a style to go with the 
chair and table. Perhaps there is a bench, or 
chest, either of which may be used with or in¬ 
stead of the table. The chest will solve the 
problem of the family overshoes, unless there 
is a closet for them. 

The table would be preferably of the console 
type, or narrow and long, sometimes called a 
refectory table, or a stand of teakwood, with 
slender, slightly carved legs. If the table is of 
mahogany, it may be any one of the drop leaf 
6 


HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


kind. If there is enough surface space, candle¬ 
sticks will look well on it, or small lamps or 
electroliers. Our English friends sometimes 
place a table filled with bright candlesticks 
near the staircase for guests to take on their 
way to bed. Although this is hardly needed in 
these days of electric fighting, still where houses 
are not so equipped, the idea is a pretty one, 
and the table full of glittering brass is a pretty 
sight. 

Between the candles, a jar with a dwarf 
Japanese shrub, or a colored glass bowl will be 
suitable. This may or may not have a flower 
in it, as the color should be beautiful enough in 
itself. A flaring bowl of aubergine (eggplant 
color), sulphur or black, mounted on a carved 
teakwood stand, with one rose just opening, 
or a waterfily floating on the water is an arrest¬ 
ing decoration. We have to thank our Japanese 
friends for calling our attention to the perfec¬ 
tion of simplicity in decoration. 

The table may be left bare—especially if the 
wood is handsome—or it may have a runner of 


7 


HOME FURNISHING 


hand-made linen, or perhaps a piece of brocade. 
This may be bound and lined, or edged with 
gimp. A Persian or Arab saddlebag, or a small, 
not too thick rug is also a good choice. A tiny 
tray for calling cards may be added, but it is 
better not to clutter up the table. 

One or more rugs may be used for the floor 
covering, or a plain, small figured carpet may 
cover the entire floor. Taupe colored carpet 
has had and still has a vogue. Taupe and gray 
are perhaps the most refined of the plain col¬ 
ored carpets. If the hall is long, carpet may 
be used as a runner, or made up into a rug for 
the wider hall. The Oriental rug may also be 
used, preferably of the stronger or bolder de¬ 
signs and coloring. 

The lighting fixture should be carefully con¬ 
sidered. If it is ugly in form, there are two 
remedies. One is to paint the whole fixture 
the color of the woodwork or wallpaper, the 
other is to screen the fight and fixture com¬ 
pletely. Naturally this can only be done if 
electricity is used, or a gas mantle which will 
8 


HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


restrain the flame. Frames may be bought in 
various shapes, some attractive ones are in a 
modified lantern style. A plain drum shape is 
a good form to use in a hall. Every week shows 
new treatments of the shading of lights and 
lamps. Parchment is very popular, and when 
painted in few colors or simple bandings of 
color, is most attractive. The edges may be 
bound with antique galloon braid. If silk is 
used to cover the frame, it had better be a 
plain color, lined with orange or other warm 
color, depending upon other colors in the hall. 
Light pulls are made of attractive tassels and 
look well. 

Sometimes the fixture may be entirely cov¬ 
ered with a brass, copper or iron lantern— 
which may be found in antique and brass shops. 
Lately the high class department stores have 
added a small fine of brass accessories, such as 
sun dials, candelabra, knockers, trivets, tongs, 
toasters and other fire irons. These lanterns 
are especially attractive and suitable in the 
country house hall, or the hall that shows con- 


9 


HOME FURNISHING 


siderable woodwork, paneling and furniture. 

A clock will be found useful in the hall, 
either of the hanging variety, or with the 
standing case, so commonly called Grand¬ 
father’s clock. Where this must stand will 
depend on the size of the hall and its other fur¬ 
nishing. The landing is a good place, if there 
is room enough, or it may be by the door. In 
any case it is a handsome addition to the 
hall. 

In the newer houses, the sliding doors from 
hall to living room, are often replaced by 
French doors, entirely glassed. Where the 
space is limited, the doors are made to fold in 
small leaves, taking very little room. The 
glass is usually covered with China silk, pongee 
or casement cloth tightly shirred on small brass 
rods. Sometimes the color of the window cur¬ 
tains is carried out in the glass curtaining, but 
it is safer to use the inconspicuous coloring of 
the casement cloth. If the door from the ves¬ 
tibule has glass let into the panel, it will need 
to be screened. Casement cloth, pongee, Shiki 


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HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


silk, bobbinet or filet mesh may be shirred on 
small brass rods at the top and bottom of the 
glass. The elaborate lace curtain is gradually 
being superseded by the simpler and less ob¬ 
trusive silk. All the glass doors and windows 
opening out of the hall should be curtained 
alike, of course. 

If there is a portiere in the doorway, it should 
hang straight to the floor, not draped. Heavy 
material may be hung with pulley cords and 
traverse rings for ease in closing. The ma¬ 
terial of which the portiere is made, may be 
velvet, velour, brocade, arras cloth, monk’s 
cloth, rep, linen or cretonne. Unless the ma¬ 
terial is doublefaced, it will need to be lined. 
There should be plenty of rings or hooks at¬ 
tached three inches from the top edge of the 
material. If the heading droops, it should be 
lined with a moderately stiff buckram, so that 
it will stay in place. The co-ordinate scheme 
of the entire floor comes into play with the se¬ 
lection of the portiere. If the hall, living room 
and dining room are treated in similar fashion 


ii 


HOME FURNISHING 


as to walls, floors, curtains and furniture, the 
portiere that agrees with them in coloring will 
be found to be the best choice. If there is 
much design in the floor covering and that of 
the furniture, it is much safer to choose a plain 
material for the portiere. 

Pictures for the hall should be carefully 
studied, as much of the attractiveness of the 
hall depends on their choice and arrangement. 
Those of striking interest and color will be 
found most desirable. Black and white work, 
Japanese prints framed alike, or nearly so, look 
well; photographs of architecturally fine build¬ 
ings, and in a large hall a portrait is especially 
suitable. I have seen a small Oriental rug hung 
in an empty space, just opposite the door of an 
apartment. It was harmonious in color, and 
though much worn, made the focal point an 
interesting one. 

The arrangement of furniture as seen from 
the front door should be such as to interest and 
attract at a glance, in fact, the view from the 


12 


HALL, VESTIBULE AND STAIRS 


door of every room in the house should be a 
matter of careful arrangement. 

As to color for the hallway, Mr. Albert Her- 
ter, essentially a colorist, says that the warm 
tones of orange, reddish orange and warm yel¬ 
low are the tones of welcome, and therefore 
should be used at the entrance of the house. 
In the hallway of his own country house, the 
rich tones of apricot silk hang in great foldsin 
the doorway to the living room. The color is 
repeated in the Chinese rug on the floor, and 
in the great balloons of thin parchment that 
cover the lighting fixtures. The staircase is of 
red teakwood, and Japanese prints framed alike 
hang along the wall. The note of contrast that 
gives brilliancy, lies in the turquoise colored 
bowls and vases, that are always filled with 
flowers. 


13 


II 

THE RECEPTION ROOM OR PARLOUR 

The “keeping room” of our ancestors that 
was reserved for formal entertaining is not 
sufficiently in accord with our comfort-demand¬ 
ing age to be, like some of the furniture of its 
period, either restored or reproduced. Yet 
the readiness of that room to receive the outside 
world at all times scored one point in its favour 
and makes a modernised substitute desirable. 
A receiving, or reception room, is of advantage 
under any conditions, and, with young children 
or older persons in the family, is really neces¬ 
sary. 

The situation of a room of this kind (in some 
homes called a parlour, in others a reception 
room) should be near the front door or vestibule, 
and if this is well managed by the architect or 
builder, a stranger entering the house will 


14 


RECEPTION ROOM OR PARLOUR 


naturally turn towards the place where he is 
to be received, and not stray into the family 
rooms. When the room is not properly located 
in the beginning, some alteration of doorways 
should be made or the uses of the rooms changed. 
In one home the latter plan was adopted, mak¬ 
ing the library into a reception room and the 
parlour into a living room. 

The privacy desirable for a reception room 
is often defeated by the modern fashion of 
archways in place of doors. When the former 
exist, thick hangings may be used that will 
shut out noise and interruptions. A second 
door from the reception room to another part 
of the house should be planned in building a 
house with a parlour. 

The popular scheme at the present time is 
to furnish the parlour in what painters call a 
“high key,” that is, white-and-gold, white-and- 
rose, or green-and-white. This is suitable in 
a home where there is much evening entertain¬ 
ing and where the parlour is used by guests with¬ 
out wraps, the decorations making a brilliant 
15 


HOME FURNISHING 


setting for evening costumes; but when the 
main office of the room (as in homes of moder¬ 
ate cost) is to receive callers in their outdoor 
garments, with the hostess in her ordinary 
house dress, quiet colours in the room are the 
better choice. With this granted, the woodwork 
may be a soft-toned medium brown, with a 
paper quietly decorative in design; or a two- 
toned paper may be chosen as a background 
for some interesting pictures. The windows 
may be hung with long ecru-coloured lace cur¬ 
tains, with over-curtains of warm-hued tones 
for the winter. The absolute needs of the 
room would be covered with the admission of 
two or three chairs, a small sofa and a table; 
but this limit may be extended as space and 
income permit. 

In the selection of chairs for this room rockers 
and Morris chairs may be discarded, but com¬ 
fortable armchairs of good construction pro¬ 
vided. Some light side chairs with cane seats 
and mahogany frames are useful-in this room, 
and the Sheraton models for sofa and chairs are 

16 



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RECEPTION ROOM OR PARLOUR 


essentially appropriate. Willow chairs, stained 
and fitted with pretty cushions on the seats and 
backs, may take the place of a more expensive 
upholstered variety. 

There are tables innumerable to choose from, 
but many of them are badly designed, heavily 
ornate and poorly constructed. The old-fash¬ 
ioned round candle-stand is a model that has not 
lost its trim outlines with age, and the carved 
or pie-crust edge bestows a little touch of dec¬ 
oration that is not objectionable in the recep¬ 
tion room. 

A low taboret is useful for holding a foliage 
plant, and a teakwood stand with a square of 
marble set into the top is serviceable for holding 
a vase of cut flowers. If tea is to be brought 
in at any time, a turn-down or tip-table may 
be kept in reserve for the tray. 

A small writing desk or table supplied with 
stationery may also be a part of the equipment 
of the parlour, for the especial convenience of 
the caller or guest staying in the house. 

The selections of pictures may be such as to 
17 


HOME FURNISHING 


arrest the attention and give pleasure by their 
interpretation of nature or life. Family por¬ 
traits, amateur attempts at photography, ex¬ 
periments in drawing or painting, may each 
and all be excluded from the reception room. 

Books of pictorial interest or short selections 
that may be enjoyed by callers who chance 
to be kept waiting are among the minor pro¬ 
visions for the parlour that give evidence of 
thought as well as of taste; and fresh flowers 
in pretty bowls or jars will give a more dis¬ 
tinctive touch than mere furnishings, however 
valuable. 

Bric-a-brac and other decorations may be 
chosen for the enjoyment of those who come 
into this room, and not be an expression of the 
individual tastes of the family. A clock of good 
design may stand upon the mantel with a 
plaster cast, candelabra, a Japanese vase and 
piece of pottery. 


18 


Ill 


THE DINING ROOM 

Originality and taste are often expended 
in the different parts of the house to the exclu¬ 
sion of the dining room. As a place to go to 
at meal times this room is provided with a table 
and chairs, a sideboard and china closet. The 
windows are curtained, the floor is laid with a 
rug or carpet, the wall is papered, pictures are 
hung and the room is finished. 

What are the possibilities for making this 
part of the home interesting? If we begin 
when the plans of the different rooms are drawn 
up by the architect, we would put in a plea for 
placing the dining room in a position where it 
will get the morning sunshine, the full light 
of day hours, and the lingering gleams of sun¬ 
set. This means an exposure of east, south 
and west; but if this happy combination is 


19 


HOME FURNISHING 


impossible to reach, then one of the three may 
be the substitute. If only a north light, how¬ 
ever, is available for the dining room, especial 
care must be given to the colouring to make 
up for its cold outlook. 

One point that may well be thought of in 
making a new dining room is its shape. Long, 
straight lines, or those exactly square, are almost 
sure to create an uninteresting interior, unless 
helped out by built-in furniture or artistic wood¬ 
work. 

A plate shelf may often be made an archi¬ 
tectural feature in the dining room. Its mission 
is to hold pieces of china that are worth exhibit¬ 
ing from an artistic or historical point and that 
are not needed for daily use. Usually the 
plate shelf is placed in line with some other 
part of the woodwork, the top of the mantel, 
the upper framing of the windows or doors, or 
it may be quite independent of any of these. 
If the wall below the plate shelf is panelled in 
wood to form a wainscot, only the space above 
needs a covering. Water or oil colours may 


20 
















































































































































































THE DINING ROOM 


give this part a plain tint, or a paper may be 
used; or one of the heavier wall coverings such 
as burlap, grass cloth, Japanese leather or 
buckram may be selected, a plain surface 
showing the contents of the plate shelf to better 
advantage than a figured one. 

China closets that are built into or against 
the wall are another means of bringing interest 
into the dining room. Sometimes these closets 
are united with the fireplace to balance the lines 
of the room. 

A long window seat with casement windows 
is a pictorial addition to a dining room, and 
of service for afternoon or evening entertain¬ 
ments. 

If a choice may be made in the woodwork 
of this room it may fall on whatever will suit 
the furniture the best, and as a decided prefer¬ 
ence is generally felt for dining-room pieces in 
mahogany or oak, the background of wood 
may, with the former, be of white painted wood, 
or, with the latter, some shade of brown or 
green. 


21 


HOME FURNISHING 


In rented houses the dining rooms are often 
spoiled by a cheap wood finish, and the only 
improvement to be made is with paint of a 
quiet, harmonising colour. 

The colour of the walls and the colour of the 
floor covering are the important items in the 
dining room from a decorative standpoint. If 
the exposure renders the room habitually dark 
and gloomy, great care should be given to bring 
bright tones into the wall treatment. If, on 
the contrary, there is considerable window glass 
and a glare of light, the room will require ton¬ 
ing down with papers of subdued hues. 

The question of a plain or figured wall paper 
for the dining room must depend upon certain 
conditions—whether a purely decorative result 
is wanted or whether the walls must be a back¬ 
ground for pictures or china. The style of fur¬ 
niture, too, will modify the selection, as chairs 
and table that are massively carved must be 
sustained by a depth of colour behind them. 

A large rug is the best covering for the dining¬ 
room floor. If the boards showing outside of 


22 



Courtesy of Erskine-Danforth Corporation , N.Y. 

GROUP OF DINING-ROOM FURNITURE, EARLY AMERICAN FINISH. DROP LEAF CUPBOARD. WIND¬ 
SOR CHAIRS WITH PIERCED SPLAT FOLLOW THE ENGLISH DETAIL 































. 















THE DINING ROOM 


the rug are not in condition for a stained or 
waxed finish, they may be painted a soft dark 
colour that does not obtrude itself against the 
colours of the rug. The size of the rug should 
be generous enough to allow the chairs to be 
pushed back from the table without scraping 
the bare floor. 

A plain-coloured rug is not as serviceable 
for this room as well-mixed colours in a close- 
set pattern. The Wilton rugs and the Scotch 
(the latter reversible) are in good taste and give 
good wear at a medium price. Velvet or Wilton 
carpeting that is six, nine or twelve feet wide 
may be cut the right length and used as a rug 
without any border. Oriental rugs of not too 
heavy a pile are the most enduring here as in 
every other part of the home, but a strongly 
marked centre figure is often difficult to adjust 
evenly under a table. 

The drop-leaf table around which our fore¬ 
fathers consumed their meals was increased in 
size for the comfort of guests by joining a side 
table of the same height and width at each 


23 


HOME FURNISHING 


end. Our later-day contrivance, the extension 
table, is an advance so far as utility is concerned, 
but for beauty it is not at all a success. The 
oblong size with rounded ends is seldom seen 
nowadays; square ones are still made; the 
round table, however, is growing more and more 
into popular favour. 

The prominence of this piece of furniture 
and its cost make its choice a critical one in 
the fitting up of the dining room. The con¬ 
struction of the supports may be carefully 
noted, and if the table is to remain in an ex¬ 
tended position the centre pillar may be dis¬ 
carded for a style with posts at each corner. 

A round table four feet six inches across 
seats several persons and allows an extra place 
to be added without the use of extension leaves. 
It may be extended, if necessary, to eight, 
ten or twelve feet, according to the number of 
leaves. Of course, the rounded edges occasion 
a loss of space for the serving dishes that the 
square table affords. Table-cloths are made 
for the round table, and the usual small pieces 


24 


THE DINING ROOM 


of linen for the centre, plate doilies, etc., each 
item adding its share to the symmetrical ap¬ 
pearance of the table. 

A polished wood for the top of a dining table 
soon becomes seared with hot dishes if no pre¬ 
cautions are used. Large asbestos pads are 
manufactured to lay under the cloth, or, if a 
bare table is preferred for breakfasts and 
luncheons, small asbestos mats may be slipped 
under plate doilies. 

Dining-room chairs should match the table 
in wood and general style. Mahogany chairs 
of the best make are sometimes copied from 
the English designers, Chippendale, Sheraton, 
and Heppelwhite. Chairs carved in dark oak 
return to the earlier period of English deco¬ 
ration, the Jacobean. Mission chairs and 
tables in austere lines and deep-coloured finish 
suit some conditions better than any other 
type. Painted chairs are not usual in the 
dining room, but the idea was adopted with 
success to match the sage-green paint on the 
woodwork. The reproductions of the Windsor 


25 


HOME FURNISHING 


chair without arms may be treated to paint 
with good results. 

A sideboard of some kind, when the spaces 
of the room permit, is one of the real require¬ 
ments of the dining room. So many varieties 
of this article exist in old pieces and new that 
the choice must turn upon the price that is to 
be paid, and its location and surroundings. 
Some of the old Southern sideboards of San 
Domingo mahogany are typical of lavish hos¬ 
pitality and generous-sized homes. A fine side¬ 
board that has descended through generations 
is a treasured inheritance, but one that is merely 
an antique without any claims of association, 
beauty of design or integrity of wood, is value¬ 
less. 

Besides the sideboard which holds the flat 
silver and linen in its drawers and accommo¬ 
dates other silver and glassware on the top, a 
serving table is useful as an auxiliary. This is 
made with one drawer and a shelf below, and 
the top is kept free for removing dishes to and 
from the table during the progress of the meal. 

26 



Courtesy of Kensington Mfg. Company, N. Y. 

EXOUISITE AMERICAN HEPPLEWHITE SIDEBOARD OF MAHOG¬ 
ANY INLAID WITH PEARWOOD, SATINWOOD, HOLLY, EBONY, 
FIDDLEBACK AND LIGHT MAHOGANY 
























































































THE DINING ROOM 


A china closet with glass doors and mirrors 
at the back is made irn different woods and 
several styles to fit against the wall or to stand 
in the corner. Much expense is put into some 
of these closets, fine carving and careful finish 
adding to the cost of the handsome wood; and 
sometimes the shelves and sides are made of 
glass to show the interior contents to better 
advantage. 

The lighting and heating of the dining room 
require a thoughtful consideration to give the 
acme of comfort with due reference to aesthetic 
appearance. Unless there are ample spaces 
to the dining room the open fireplace may be 
dispensed with, as close contact is a source of 
discomfort when it is too near the table. A 
recessed fireplace with built-in seats placed at 
the farther end of the room is the ideal arrange¬ 
ment for this feature in this part of the home. 
If hot-water radiators supply the heat, a warm¬ 
ing oven may be attached to one of the radia¬ 
tors for use in the coldest weather. 

To sit facing a glare of light will spoil the 


27 


HOME FURNISHING 


most enjoyable meal, and a table poorly lighted 
will bring equal discomfort. Just the right 
amount of light may be reached after a little 
experimenting with curtains and gas or electric 
shades. All of the windows should have prac¬ 
tical means for shifting the curtains readily 
according to the needs for increasing or decreas¬ 
ing the light. 

The articles related to the dining room, china, 
glass and silver, afford so large an opportunity 
for appropriate decoration that pictures seem 
almost needless. Yet the attraction that an 
interesting picture lends to any room should 
not be forgotten here. A reaction has happily 
set in against the unpleasantly realistic paint¬ 
ings of fish and animals that a few years ago 
were considered the proper selection for dining¬ 
room walls. Instead, there is a popular liking 
for the English and American coloured prints 
of hunting and golf scenes, and for a higher 
grade of pictures of still life, flowers and fruit. 

Whatever the choice of pictures for the walls 
of the dining room, it should attract and hold 


28 



DINING-ROOM IN REMODELED FARMHOUSE. GOOD TASTE SHOWN IN SIMPLE PAINTED 

FURNITURE AND CRETONNE 


































THE DINING ROOM 


the attention pleasantly, and lend towards the 
entertainment of the meal hour. 

A between-meals cloth is not so much seen 
now as in other years, and a round mat of some 
kind takes its place. The tooled leather makes 
a substantial and beautiful mat for this place; 
or an embroidered circle of thick brown linen 
may be made by home talent. A bowl of fresh 
flowers or a small jardiniere may be placed on 
the mat and the rest of the table left bare. 


29 


IV 

THE LIVING ROOM 

A strong plea for the living room is made 
in these words of an English architect of repu¬ 
tation: 

“Let us have in our houses a room where 
there shall be space to carry on the business of 
life freely and with pleasure, with furniture 
made for use.” 

In much the same spirit is the ideal fixed by 
R. de Maulde la Claviere of “a living and well- 
ordered place, where the accessory does not 
take precedence of the essential, where every 
object has its own place and its specific char¬ 
acter,” and where there is “a sentiment of unity, 
spaciousness and comfort.” 

Individual occupations may claim the library, 
studio or study; the little children and older 
people the nursery and sitting room; but the 


30 


THE LIVING ROOM 


living room is distinctively for general service, 
unique in usefulness, its realisation a continu¬ 
ous source of delight. 

In homes where a living room has always 
existed, life without it seems impossible. Un¬ 
like other rooms that may be completely fur¬ 
nished from the outset, the living room is a 
thing of growth. It may begin in a very un¬ 
pretentious way and assume importance with 
time and the development of family interests, 
but it is never at a standstill in suggestiveness 
as to its treatment. 

In reconstructing an old house there is often 
an opportunity for throwing together rooms that 
are too small for use by themselves, and forming 
one large living room. Windows may be added 
and doorways enlarged, with careful attention 
paid to the architectural details. In one such 
attempt the discovery of an oak-beamed ceiling 
made a delightful starting point for a return 
to an earlier, simpler period of interior work, 

In another house a dark end of a long room 
was lightened by inserting three windows in 


HOME FURNISHING 


a row and opening them in casement fashion. 
Underneath the windows a set of bookshelves 
was built against the wall. 

Still another effort at remodelling brought 
to light an unused fireplace and an old Franklin 
stove. Both were returned to usefulness and 
a quaint, cosy-looking open fire was the result. 

“The paper of the room in which we live,” 
says a writer, “has a silent but irresistible in¬ 
fluence upon us.” Recognising this, the walls 
of the living room will receive a quiet colour of 
one, two or three tones, the choice depending 
first upon the woodwork in the room, then upon 
the floor and furniture covering to be used, 
with due attention paid always to the amount 
of light and the direction from which it comes. 

In selecting a two-toned paper a geometrical 
or conventional pattern set closely together is 
more pleasing and untiring for every-day wear 
than a scattered pattern or a stripe. In a plain 
colour the English or domestic ingrains may 
be used, or one of the thicker materials that 
are sold by the yard—burlap, crash, buckram, 


32 





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WING CHAIR IN GENEROUS PROPORTION AND LINE. DOORWAYS WELL HUNG WITH 
BLOCK PRINTED LINEN. SIMPLE BOOKCASE ALWAYS A GOOD FEATURE 



























THE LIVING ROOM 


linen or jute. Textile fabrics when used as a 
wall hanging are usually tacked to a narrow 
moulding that is fitted at the top and bottom of 
the wall. 

The question of a frieze or border for the 
living room is easily disposed of when the ceil¬ 
ing is less than nine feet. No ornamental fin¬ 
ish except the picture moulding is then needed 
at the cornice. The regular frieze made to 
accompany plain papers is so obtrusive in 
design and distracting in colour that it may be 
discarded for a living room. In its place a 
figured paper intended for the side wall may be 
adopted by having it cut into strips the desired 
length for the upper wall. 

The continuous use of this room will suggest 
a rug instead of a carpet, to avoid the interrup¬ 
tions of a spring or fall cleaning time. A large 
rug gives a sense of repose that is not accom¬ 
plished by small rugs, and minimises the care 
of the bare floor, but sometimes the floor lines 
are so irregular that a rug cannot be found for 
the uneven spaces. Then the velvet, Brussels 


33 


HOME FURNISHING 


or Wilton carpet in rug patterns may be sewed 
together to fit the floor, the border following 
the outside edges within eighteen inches of the 
wall. 

The restraint shown in selecting the colour 
and pattern for the wall covering of the living 
room may extend also to the floor covering. 
If mixed colours are preferred for the carpet 
or rug, they may be in soft tones in an unag- 
gressive pattern, in a material as fine as is con¬ 
sistent with the rest of the furnishings. The 
two-toned effect may again be recommended for 
this room, as it has almost the full charm of a 
plain surface with more practical advantages. 

The “livable” element would be defeated if 
the individual requirements of the family were 
not recognised in the selection of the furniture. 
Yet a preference for rockers, Morris chairs, 
low seats or high backs, soft cushions or hard 
wood need not be gratified at the expense of a 
good style, for a wide range is at hand from 
colonial designs to the modified mission of the 
present day. 


34 


THE LIVING ROOM 


An English fireside chair with wings or “ears” 
against which to lean one’s head for forty winks, 
is a picturesque selection. This piece may be 
upholstered in a needlework tapestry, woven, 
to be sure, by machine, but with a hint of the 
old-time hand-work on its texture. A plain, 
comfortable rocker is not easy to find, but one 
may be searched for in a flag seat or an uphol¬ 
stered seat and back, that is not too ornate for 
its position. The test of an easy chair is wheth¬ 
er on first occupying it one wishes to remain 
from choice. Applying this test to many of 
the so-called “easy chairs,” in considering them 
for the living room, would bar out a large per¬ 
centage that, on the moment, might seem ex¬ 
actly suitable. 

Stools or benches of willow or with flag seats, 
of Moorish make or in plain wood, are con¬ 
venient for the children, and two floor cushions 
that may be laid one on the other are easily 
provided. The cushions may be covered with 
corduroy or a soft-finished burlap, or a tapestry 
in well-mixed colours. 


35 


HOME FURNISHING 

In a living room extensive enough to accom¬ 
modate a swinging settle a pretty colour effect 
may be accomplished with the covers of down 
pillows. Bulgarian embroideries may be cut 
into squares for this purpose, or some Oriental 
patterns made on the loom may be the selection. 
The swinging settle will not, however, take the 
place of a lounge or divan, and the utmost com¬ 
fort may be reached with a simple frame fitted 
with springs on which a mattress is laid. If 
such a divan without a back is the choice, three 
stiff pillows filled with moss or hair will be 
needed to place against the wall and as a brace 
for some soft small cushions. A fitted cover 
may be made for a divan, with a box-plaited 
ruffle on the lower edges below the seat, and 
the large back pillow may be covered with the 
material of the cover. With such a cover ma¬ 
terial by the yard may be sought for. If a 
regular lounge spread is preferred the plain 
one-colour Bagdads are better than the much- 
seen five-stripe variety. The modern Kelim 
rugs make an enduring cover for a lounge, and 

36 


The living room 


Oriental embroideries on red or green cottons 
are attractive. 

A writing desk or secretary is one of the ab¬ 
solute requirements of the living room. One 
of the slope-front desks with large drawers 
below the lid is convenient, or a writing table 
with an open top and pigeon-holes may be 
chosen. In a large household more than one 
desk or writing table may be called for. 

A generous-sized table, round, square or ob¬ 
long, will afford a general centre for reading 
and evening work, but other small stands may 
be added for individual use in other portions 
of the room. A card table to fold away when 
not in use, a tip-table reserved for the tray of 
tea, a sewing stand for the needle-worker may 
be noted in equipping the living room with 
tables. 

Bookshelves will naturally be provided for 
this room, and the open shelves will more 
readily suit the conditions than the closed 
cases. If standing space is limited, the hang¬ 
ing shelves may be fastened to or built against 


37 


HOME FURNISHING 


the upper walls, over a sofa or desk, mantel or 
table. 

Evening enjoyment of the living room will 
turn upon a correct lighting, and whatever 
medium is used it should be brought low enough 
to do away with eye-strain. If decorated shades 
are preferred in the daytime the useful plain 
ones may be adopted at night. 

The treatment of the living-room windows 
may be with direct reference to their utility. 
This may be achieved by studying the spaces 
for light and air and suiting the drapery to the 
conditions. The simplest curtaining in this 
room is the best. If shutters are provided a 
shade is not imperative, but long or three- 
quarter hangings (the latter coming to the sill) 
may be pushed aside in the daylight hours and 
drawn in the evening. 

Sometimes a semi-transparent curtain is more 
fitting than either a thin material or an opaque 
goods. Embroidered madras or a stained glass 
net will give a characteristic touch to the living 
room windows. An all-over stencilling on or- 
38 


THE LIVING ROOM 

gandie or rough-finished silk makes an unu¬ 
sual, attractive curtain, or home talent may 
embroider and hemstitch scrim or canvas. 

In some homes a lack of ideas is evidenced 
in having the door hangings exactly like the 
over-curtains for the windows. The object 
of the two is something alike, but their positions 
are quite different. A material that hangs in 
soft folds may be made up for the portiere, of 
a single or a double-faced goods according to 
the plan to be carried out. There is a larger 
variety always in the single-faced upholstery 
goods. A figured effect will be a relief at the 
doorways if the walls are plain, and a plain 
hanging will balance walls that are strikingly 
patterned; but harmonious tones and good 
designs that have some affinity for the wood¬ 
work and walls will be the surest means for 
securing artistic rooms. No loopings nor fes¬ 
toons are desirable, but the mechanical contriv¬ 
ances for correct hanging and smooth running 
should not be given up on account of their 
expense. 


HOME FURNISHING 


A fireplace for the living room is a foregone 
conclusion to every home builder of our times; 
but when a rented house without provision for 
a fire on the hearth seems to eliminate this 
feature it is well to inquire into the substitutes 
that are on the market in gas logs that do not 
demand chimney or flue, and Franklin stoves 
that may be set with only a chimney hole. 

In an old house that had seen Revolutionary 
days the fire on the hearth was never allowed 
to become quite extinguished in summer or 
winter, and the presence of the warm ashes 
made an easy re-kindling of the fire scarcely 
a moment’s work. The homely adjunct of an 
iron crane suits the living-room fireplace, and 
if, at either side, there is a little hob, the water 
kettle will find a convenient resting place when 
not in use. 

There is a more intimate enjoyment of pic¬ 
tures in the living room than in any other part 
of the house, and each selection may well be 
made with this fact in mind. If water colours, 
pastels or oil paintings are out of question from 


40 


THE LIVING ROOM 


their cost, there are many satisfying prints in 
colour and in monotones. Some of the tinted 
engravings or the carbon copies of the old and 
new masters are less hackneyed than the copies 
of popular paintings. 

An inexpensive decoration was made for the 
walls of a living room with three or four full- 
page coloured illustrations from a high-class 
magazine, by placing them under a gold mat 
with a narrow gold frame. 


41 


V 

THE LIBRARY 

Although the distinguishing mark of the 
library is its collection of books attractively 
arranged, one sometimes finds a room desig¬ 
nated by this title in which there is a conspicu¬ 
ous absence of well-filled shelves 

" Where genius lies enshrined, 

Where reign in silent majesty 
The monarchs of the mind/’ 

The library, more than any other room in 
the home, repays a generous expenditure of 
money. On the other hand, with taste and 
judgment, it may be fitted up effectively in 
quite simple fashion. 

A colour effect should not be as dominating 
in the library as in the other parts of the house, 
although it should be carefully planned not 
only to be correct in itself but to unite harmo¬ 
niously with the schemes of adjoining rooms. 


42 


THE LIBRARY 


Bright colours should be avoided on walls, 
furniture and floors and at the windows. 
Greens, blues, buffs and browns, in their many 
tones, are the most feasible colours to draw 
from. 

The blending of colours in this room may 
be more subtle than in the other living rooms. 
A study of the tones in the autumn scenery 
will be suggestive for colour combinations in 
the library; the deeper shades for the floor, 
woodwork and furniture, the medium ones for 
window hangings, and the lightest for walls and 
small decorations. 

White woodwork makes too vivid a contrast 
with everything with which it comes in contact 
to be a restful element in the library. A warm 
dark grey or a dark sage green is a better cover¬ 
ing when paint must be applied to the wood 
finish. The hard woods that take a quiet finish 
of green or brown impart a feeling of wood 
texture that cannot be given by paint. Some 
new dull finishes for soft woods are welcomed 
in homes where cost is a serious consideration. 


43 


HOME FURNISHING 


If the walls of the library are too decorative 
in their treatment, either with the paper or 
pictures, the main object of the room, namely, 
to furnish the means for mental concentration, 
is destroyed. A self-effacing pattern in two 
tones or two quiet contrasting colours may 
realise better, perhaps, than a plain colour the 
ideal covering for the library wall. In libraries 
that are wainscoted with wooden panels or book¬ 
shelves, the wall space above may be hung with 
cotton or wool tapestry in verdure designs and 
colourings, or with the heavy pressed paper 
that resembles leather, stencilled grass cloth or 
figured burlap. 

If the wall is to be covered from floor to ceil¬ 
ing with a paper, a close-set pattern or a stripe 
in two tones of one colour will prove satisfac¬ 
tory. A frieze or border in the library, unless 
the ceiling is high, affords unnecessary and 
distracting decoration. 

The pictures for the library walls ought not 
to exact too much attention, yet each should, 
have sufficient interest to qualify it for its posi- 


44 



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THE LIBRARY 


tion. Paintings of landscapes or marines are 
usually reposeful in composition and tone. 
Portraits of celebrated authors, plaster reliefs 
and busts of the same, and pictures of the homes 
of great literary characters are also desirable 
acquisitions. 

After the walls and woodwork, the book¬ 
shelves should receive a first consideration in 
planning a library interior. In style, quantity 
and placing, the shelves should conform to the 
proportions of the room, its occupants’ interests 
and the remaining furnishings. 

In Sir Walter Scott’s library at Abbotsford 
nearly the entire wall space is set with book¬ 
shelves. Charles Dickens, too, worked in a 
room completely surrounded with volumes. 
Non-professional people, however, without the 
demands of authorship, may utilise wall space 
for general comfort, instead of fitting it with 
vast accumulations of literature. 

Among the appointments of the home library 
a desk chair of the proper height for writing 
is always needed, and reading or study chairs 


45 


HOME FURNISHING 


may be selected to fit individual demands. The 
Morris chair in its original character as an un¬ 
decorated, adjustable armchair is an excellent 
choice for the library, and there are many new 
shapes on the mission order or modified from 
the mission lines. 

A library sofa, to be suited to its location, 
should be dignified in style, upholstered in 
durable, unaggressive-coloured material. The 
idea of comfort need not, however, with these 
conditions, be discarded. 

A writing desk and study table are, of course, 
essential. As the fancy lines of the French 
furniture, and some of our own designs, also, 
do not accord with the serious purpose of this 
apartment, the selection may be taken from the 
early English, Dutch or colonial forms or our 
own mission patterns. The old-fashioned writ¬ 
ing desks with sloping fronts are so much de¬ 
sired that reproductions of them are being made, 
and whether new or old the type is dignified 
and well-suited to the library. 

A study table must be for general usefulness, 

46 


THE LIBRARY 


of good size and strongly constructed. The 
gate-leg, or thousand-legged table of the seven¬ 
teenth century, oblong in shape when all of the 
legs are supporting the top, is historically 
interesting and convenient for the library. It 
was on a table of this kind that the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence was signed. 

A steel frame for holding a large dictionary 
is a practical article for the library. A stand 
to hold a complete set of encyclopaedias, and 
a revolving bookcase for reference works may 
also be near at hand. A chest of shallow draw¬ 
ers with labels attached on the outside is one 
of the best systems for preserving newspaper 
clippings, prints and memoranda in classified 
form. So many modern conveniences for the 
student are thought of nowadays that the 
library may become a literary workshop without 
interior confusion. 

A poorly lighted library defeats the purpose 
for which it has been set apart, and a full pro¬ 
vision of lamps and drop-lights is required for 
every part of the room that is occupied in the 


47 


HOME FURNISHING 


evening. The chandelier may be given up in 
this room, and if a table is placed in the centre 
of the room, a double student lamp will radiate 
a soft, pleasant light in all directions. A white 
shade gives the strongest light, and green, in 
a light or a dark tone, is pleasant for continued 
use. 

A carpeted floor, although it may be avoided 
in other parts of the home, prevents noise and 
gives a feeling of space, and in the library these 
points make its admission worth considering, 
even when rugs are the rule in other parts of 
the house. A plain colour may be chosen from 
the wool fillings in the domestic make or the 
English kind, or a velvet or Wilton may be 
chosen. Mottled effects or two-toned carpets 
come very near to the plain colour, and in 
patterns there are small, compact figures in 
three colours and copies of antique rugs. 

The full allowance of window light may be 
granted ungrudgingly to the library, and what¬ 
ever curtaining is chosen it should be so ad¬ 
justed that it may be swung entirely away from 
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THE LIBRARY 


the glass. Thick curtains to draw at night 
in cold weather will insure more than any other 
furnishing in this room a cosy, withdrawn 
feeling. 

A fireplace that is designed for the library 
should carry in its architectural lines and facing 
of brick or tiles the simplicity that if attained 
in other parts of the room creates a restful 
atmosphere for the student. A seat built near 
the hearth, or a settle drawn to one side of the 
fire with cushions and footstool makes a picture 
of fireside comfort. 


49 


VI 

THE MUSIC ROOM 

A music room, to deserve its title, should 
be furnished with a sympathetic understanding 
of the art for which it stands. The first pro¬ 
vision is, naturally, for the performer. The 
placing of the piano is of importance, and the 
best rule to follow is that observed on the con¬ 
cert stage, where the soprano part of the key¬ 
board is always toward the listeners. 

If the upright piano can be placed at an angle 
from the wall without too much isolation for 
the player, the acoustic effects will be better 
than if the instrument stands close to the wall. 
The first arrangement is practicable only in a 
room of good size, with window and artificial 
light conveniently distributed. The back of 
a piano so situated must have some kind of 
light opaque drapery to conceal the works. 

The true music lover will do away with all 
bric-a-brac from the top of the piano, as this 
50 


THE MUSIC ROOM 


is liable to cause a distracting jingle and vibra- 
tion of the strings. For protecting the polished 
surface of the lid an embroidered scarf may be 
laid upon it. If the instrument must be left 
for a long time in a closed house, it is worth 
while to buy a rubber cover to keep off the 
dampness. 

A piano stool is sold with the piano, but many 
persons prefer the revolving chair, and with 
graceful spindles for the back and lines of inlay 
the latter is a more pleasing article of furniture. 
In a home where there is duet playing, a bench 
for two players will be found more satisfactory 
than two stools or chairs. 

The keeping of music in orderly fashion 
away from the dust can be achieved only with 
a cabinet having doors—a point that, in some 
music cabinets, is overlooked. One of the new 
devices for a music cabinet is to have two small 
doors open simultaneously, and on the inside 
of each door a ledge corresponding with the 
inside supports for the shelves on which the 
shelves may be rested when drawn out. 

51 


HOME FURNISHING 


The lighting of the piano, when gas and 
electricity cannot be employed, is a problem. 
A small hand lamp with a shield on one side is 
made for the grand piano, and candlesticks 
are attached to the upright panels of the cottage 
piano. A standard lamp in brass or wrought 
iron can be used close to the piano. Lamp 
shades are better if nearly colourless. 

After the performer’s requirements are as¬ 
sured that of the listener may receive atten¬ 
tion. Seats that are restful and a light that is 
pleasantly tempered are the two main consider¬ 
ations, but the musical environment is not com¬ 
plete without the introduction of some plaster 
casts, bronzes, pictures and books. These, 
if selected from musical subjects, will impart 
educational and artistic value to the room. 

All decorative effect in a music room should 
be subordinate to the use to which the room 
is given. A harmony of colour is as imperative 
as the musical harmony produced by instru¬ 
ments or voices. The single-colour scheme, 
in which red, green, blue or yellow alone is 
52 


THE MUSIC ROOM 


used throughout the room, is too dominant for 
the room allotted to music. A better plan is a 
diffusion of colours in a low key. 

There are numberless fabrics besides papers 
and burlaps that will make rich and quiet hang¬ 
ings for the walls—Japanese printed cottons, 
velveteens, jutes, linens and tapestries. While 
a plain colour may seem essential, the prefer¬ 
ence may fall equally well to a design in a self- 
woven texture, or a pattern that is printed in 
another tone of the same colour as the back¬ 
ground. 

If the side-walls are over ten feet high, the up¬ 
per part may be decorated with a wide English 
border pictorial in motive, or a plain colour 
may have a conventional pattern painted upon 
it with a stencil. The plaster relief work that 
is made here and across the water gives the 
Elizabethan effect when applied to a ceiling, 
and when it is brought in touch with the wall 
paper by the right tinting it produces an appro¬ 
priate decoration for the music room. This 
plaster work is also employed on the lower 
53 


HOME FURNISHING 


wall as a wainscot, or on the upper part for a 
border. 

As important as the fireplace is in every divi¬ 
sion of the house, it offers in the music room an 
unrivalled opportunity for characteristic treat¬ 
ment. A capable architect will not pass by 
such a chance without originating something 
worthy of attention, but in a home where the 
conventional mantel is already in possession 
the only recourse is to add some attractive 
picture or plaster relief above the mantel. The 
famous Della Robbia singing children, in one, 
two, or three plaster panels, may be framed like 
the woodwork and fitted into the wall, or a 
photographic copy of some mural painting 
relating to the art of music may be procured. 

A set of portraits of musicians and composers 
makes a stronger appeal when hung close to¬ 
gether than when distributed in various parts 
of the room. Narrow, dark wood frames in 
uniform sizes will further set off the little gallery 
of famous faces. 

On the selection of furniture depends a large 

54 


THE MUSIC ROOM 


share of the distinctive quality that should 
mark the interior of the music room. The 
pictures may be noteworthy, the instruments 
of the highest class, the colouring harmonious, 
yet a pervading sense of something wanting 
means that the furniture must be inartistic. 
The chairs should be well-built and of varying 
shapes and sizes. Rocking-chairs may be 
omitted. Tables may be placed wherever they 
will be of service for holding books, flowers 
or* music. Small rugs, not too heavy in weight, 
and door and window draperies as light as 
practicable will not lessen the sound of the in¬ 
struments or voices enough to be given up for 
technical reasons. 


55 


VII 


THE BATHROOM 

The Order of the Bath, as a military honour, 
was instituted by King George I in 1725; the 
earlier Order of this name, however, dates back 
to 1399, when the knights who received it were 
really treated to a bath as a token of their re¬ 
generation. 

We are so accustomed nowadays to the facil¬ 
ities for personal cleanliness that the pomp and 
ceremony of King Henry IV’s Order seems 
absurd. Yet the perfection of our present-day 
plumbing and bathroom appurtenances has 
been attained only by degrees, each year record¬ 
ing still further improvements. 

The bathroom equipment, while recognised 
as an important factor in preserving the family’s 
health, does not arouse as much interest as it 
deserves. When expense is not considered, a 

56 


THE BATHROOM 


bathroom may have an outfit that is the perfec¬ 
tion of exquisite style. In homes of more 
moderate cost the aim should be to have fewer, 
if any, of the luxuries, but of the necessaries the 
very best. 

In addition to the long bathtub so generally 
seen, there are extra tubs made for the shower 
bath, sitting bath and foot bath, besides an 
arrangement for a shampoo bath that consists 
of an attachment that fits over the long tub. 

The lavatory in the highest class of plumb¬ 
ing is made in one piece of iron and enamelled 
to prevent the lodgement of dust or germs that 
carry disease. While the lavatory would seem 
to offer little opportunity for variety of design, 
there is, nevertheless, quite a number of round, 
oval, square and oblong patterns made. One 
of the latest, interesting from a sanitary and 
artistic point, is in marked contrast to the 
older forms and is cast in two pieces which are 
joined and then enamelled, making an abso¬ 
lutely unbroken surface. For a very compact 
bathroom, with the usual fittings of tub, wash- 


57 


HOME FURNISHING 


stand and toilet, there is an adjustable seat to 
attach to the tub for a foot bath. This may 
be taken away when not in use. 

The shower bath has been until quite recently 
a luxury reserved for those who could build it 
into their own houses. A new portable shower 
bath enables even the temporary resident of 
a rented house, or a summer or winter boarder, 
to own his own personal apparatus and carry 
it around with him. The curtain is made of 
soft white rubber that folds back when not 
in use. The frame is of nickel-plated tubing, 
requiring only two nails or screws driven into 
the wall for its adjustment. 

The floors of a bathroom should not be car¬ 
peted. If the wood is not right for a partial 
covering with a mat or rug, the entire surface 
may be covered with oilcloth, inlaid linoleum, 
or rubber tiling; or a thin wood carpet may be 
laid over the old one. In building a new bath¬ 
room a tiled floor is better than wood. 

Some special rugs are made up for the bath¬ 
room in wool, having a mottled centre with a bor- 


THE BATHROOM 


der of the same colours used in the centre—blue- 
and-white, green-and-white or red-and-white. 
Cheaper ones are manufactured in cotton, and 
sometimes a Turkish towelling is laid on the 
floor for each bather. Japanese jute rugs have 
been bought for the bathroom on account of 
their small cost, but the harsh material proves 
unpleasant to the feet. The revived interest 
in rag-carpet weaving has brought out some of 
the old-fashioned hit-or-miss patterns in good 
colours that are suited to the floor of the bath¬ 
room. These are satisfying to the aesthetic 
taste when the colours respond to the tones of 
the woodwork. Another recommendation is 
their ability to stand laundering. 

Bathroom walls, in the better grade of houses, 
have a wainscot five or five-and-a-half feet high 
of wood or tile. Sometimes a white cement is 
marked off in four-inch squares to give the ap¬ 
pearance of tiles. The wall space above is 
then painted or papered, the first being the 
more durable and sanitary finish. If decora¬ 
tion is desired on the plain wall, a stencil border 


59 


HOME FURNISHING 


in darker tints may be applied. If the regular 
varnished bathroom paper is adopted, its ground 
work should correspond with the colour of the 
woodwork; that is, a cream-white paper will 
look better with cream-white woodwork than 
one or the other of a blue-white with cream- 
white in conjunction. 

A bathroom entirely in white, in the ivory 
tone, is the favourite treatment for the ideal 
home. A touch of colour may appear at the 
top of the wainscot in a line of blue, yellow, 
pink or green tiling, and the rug may repeat 
the same colour in larger quantities. By keep¬ 
ing to one colour in the limited sphere of the 
bathroom a better result is achieved than with 
a mixture of two or three colours. Blue is 
generally chosen for the bathroom, but other 
colours will blend as well with white paint. 

The older styles of bathroom papers have 
the tiled patterns familiar to us all, but some 
new imported papers have flowered designs, 
windmill scenes, sea-gulls flying over deep seas 
and pond-lilies on still waters. Sometimes a 

60 


THE BATHROOM 

bathroom of good size is treated as a dressing 
room, and if the walls are covered with the same 
paper that is put on the walls of the sleeping 
room a transparent varnish will be needed to pro¬ 
tect the dressing room walls from the dampness. 

The regular linen closet should be separate 
from the bathroom, but a small closet for the 
especial linen of the bathroom may be intro¬ 
duced into the walls or fastened in a corner. A 
medicine closet is sometimes sunk into the wall 
of a bathroom and the door fitted with a mirror. 
A washstand in a bathroom may have a centre 
mirror and one at each side, placed in a slanting 
position to afford assistance in dressing the hair. 

Nickel-plated bars are made for hanging 
towels in the bathroom, and there are also 
straight rests for laying down towels in a quan¬ 
tity. Baskets of nickel plate are also made to 
receive soiled linen. In selecting towelling for 
the bathroom the larger sizes are not apt to be 
overlooked, but it is advisable also to have an 
abundance of small-sized towels for hand¬ 
washing that may be used once and discarded. 

61 


HOME FURNISHING 


In curtaining a bathroom window two cur¬ 
tains should be made up, so that a fresh one 
may always be on hand. White muslin of a 
sheer, dainty pattern may be chosen, or a plain 
hemstitched linen. If leaded glass can be 
afforded for this room a plain colour, clear or 
opaque as preferred, will make a more refined 
interior than the garish coloured glass usually 
specified for a bathroom. 

Besides the stationary belongings of the bath¬ 
room—tubs, shower bath, lavatory, and closet 
—there should be in the complete outfit for this 
room a soap-dish, sponge-holder, soiled-linen 
basket, tumbler-holder, robe-hook, match-box 
and toilet-paper holder. Each one of these 
articles should be kept in order with exactness 
and regularity, receiving, before any other room 
in the home, daily care. Plenty of soap and 
water should be given the enamelled work, with 
occasional additions of ammonia. The nickel 
plating may be rubbed with a soft, dry cloth, 
only whiting being used as a polisher. Patent 
prescriptions for nickel plate should be avoided, 


62 


THE BATHROOM 


as they often contain an acid that destroys the 
metal. 

Sanitary plumbing is of so great importance 
that in building a house every item that makes 
for show should be cut out if it in any way de¬ 
prives the bathroom of the best class of work. 
Cases of illness are certain to follow careless 
plumbing, with doctors’ bills that soon show 
the false economy. 


63 


VIII 

THE KITCHEN AND THE HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 

A good word has been spoken for the kitchen 
by one who has given inspiration to all depart¬ 
ments of the house—William Morris. “In a 
country farm-house,” he says, “the kitchen is 
commonly pleasant and homelike, the parlour 
dreary and useless.” 

Few kitchens in our own country can claim 
these attributes, as taste in this part of the home 
is not often combined with a practical equip¬ 
ment. 

The requirements for cooking are naturally 
of first importance, and whatever economy 
must regulate other details, the stove or range 
should be one that is absolutely reliable. A 
gas stove in small apartments frequently takes 
the place of one that consumes coal, and in 
kitchens of ample size one of each kind is often 
installed. A combination gas and coal range 
64 



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KITCHEN AND HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 


is also in use, with a hot-water boiler attached 
for whichever medium is preferred. 

To carry off cooking odours two expedients 
may be turned to in the kitchen: an iron hood 
over the range, or a register in the chimney. 
Rapid ventilation from the windows is, of course, 
essential, and this may be accomplished if the 
windows are placed on opposite sides of the 
room and close to the ceiling. The lowering 
of the upper and raising of the lower sash will 
then perform most satisfactorily the purifying 
of the atmosphere. 

The window shade in the kitchen, to be most 
helpful, may be a double fixture fastened at the 
middle of the casement and adjusted upward 
or below from that point. 

Window curtains add a trim appearance to 
the kitchen, and if properly selected and hung 
they are not at all inappropriate. Some of the 
goods sold for summer wash dresses—percale, 
dimity, gingham or muslin—in pretty colour 
combinations offer suggestions for kitchen serv¬ 
ice. They should be hung only to the sill and 
65 


HOME FURNISHING 


sewed to small brass rings and slipped over a 
tiny brass rod that is screwed to the top of the 
casement. 

Oilcloth is generally in favour as a floor cover¬ 
ing for the kitchen floor, but the heavy inlaid 
linoleum, although higher in price, repays for 
the outlay by its long wear. The rubber inter¬ 
locking tiles are also used on kitchen floors in 
more expensive dwellings. As a provision of 
comfort for the worker in the kitchen a small 
rug should be laid before the sink, wash-tubs 
or table, where there is much standing. 

The walls of the kitchen are mainly respon¬ 
sible for the general aspect, whether it be light 
and bright, or dingy, dismal and repellent. Un¬ 
less this room is flooded with sunshine the 
colour of the walls may be of cream-white, 
yellow or buff. In city basements where sun¬ 
shine is never present, both walls and wood¬ 
work are finished in pure white paint that can 
be washed easily. A whitewashed wall may 
be kept sweet and clean with a semi-annual 
renewing. Oil paints, laid on in three well- 


66 


KITCHEN AND HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 


dried coats, make a serviceable surface. If the 
walls are not in condition to paint, they may be 
first covered with a plain or lining burlap and 
then painted with oil colours. A new wall 
covering for kitchens and pantries is made in 
a thin oilcloth in soft shades and good patterns 
with a glazed or a dull finish. 

A kitchen wall that is tiled from floor to ceil¬ 
ing is an impossible luxury for the home of 
moderate cost, and even a tiled wainscot may 
be prohibited by the expense, but the space 
above a sink may be fitted with tiles at no very 
great expenditure. 

Placing a sink in front of a window is a help 
in making the routine work of washing pans 
and kettles less like drudgery. To secure an 
architectural effect for the exterior of a house, 
this arrangement of an outlook is often thought * 
lessly taken away from the kitchen. 

The secret of making kitchen work enjoyable 
is to keep recurring duties at a minimum and re¬ 
lieve them by every labour-saving device. In 
one home the drying of plates and platters was 
67 


HOME FURNISHING 


accomplished by draining the dishes in a rack 
that was built above the sink. 

The saving of steps and time is another im¬ 
portant consideration that is little appreciated, 
unless the mistress of the home undertakes the 
kitchen work herself. Then the mistakes in 
arrangement and lack of conveniences become 
understood. The sink may be too far from the 
range; the table may be at the wrong side of 
the room; the doors may open on the wrong 
side of the wall; windows may be too far from 
the floor or too low down. The permanent 
errors of building must, unfortunately, be en¬ 
dured, but many of the petty annoyances in 
kitchen fittings may be overcome by the exer¬ 
cise of a little ingenuity. 

A butler’s pantry as a connecting link between 
the kitchen and dining room is considered 
essential in the modem home. When fitted 
with a sink and hot and cold water, shelves, 
cupboard and drawers, this pantry relieves 
the kitchen of dishes, silver, linen and food 
supplies. A closet at one end of the butler’s 


68 


KITCHEN AND HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 


pantry, in which extra stores may be kept under 
lock and key, is sometimes introduced. 

A well-lighted pantry, opening from the kitch¬ 
en, may be reserved for materials for baking 
and for preparing the food that is to be cooked. 
Closets for pots and kettles may be built into 
the wall if the kitchen is small, and further space 
gained by having sliding doors. A display 
of clean enamelled ware on the kitchen walls is 
not at all an objectionable feature, but pots 
and kettles may be kept out of sight in their 
own closet. 

The refrigerator in a model kitchen is placed 
in a closet opening on the porch, where it may 
be filled with ice without entering the room. 

Inadequate lighting of the kitchen at night 
is a common fault, yet in no other part of the 
house is there so much need of attention to this 
detail. 

A laundry is usually provided near the 
kitchen or in the cellar, and sometimes a space 
in the attic is portioned off for drying clothes 
in inclement weather. In houses of recent 


69 


HOME FURNISHING 


designing a chute is installed from the uppeT 
floors to the laundry for sending down soiled 
clothing. 

If a latticed porch is attached to the kitchen, 
some of the preparations for meals may be 
made away from the heat of the stove during 
the hot weather, and the enclosure will also 
serve as a sitting-place on warm evenings. 

The allotment of expense for furnishing the 
home should include comfortable and orderly 
fittings for the housemaid’s room. It is false 
economy to pass on to this room from other 
parts of the house articles that are of alien char¬ 
acter and unsuited to the conditions. 

If one room must be occupied by two persons, 
there may be a separate bed, washstand and 
bureau for each. Sanitary and durable fur¬ 
niture, soundly constructed, should be chosen. 
If the woodwork and furniture are painted alike 
in an enamelled tint, the room at once takes on 
a look of harmony. A painted wall will look 
harsh and cold if it is not soft and pleasing ir\ 

70 


KITCHEN AND HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 


tone. On the north side of the house a light 
red or buff may be chosen; on the southern 
exposure a French gray, pale green or turquoise 
blue. The addition of a stencilled border in a 
cream colour or a deeper shade of the wall 
colour around the doors and windows and 
under the ceiling will contribute a touch of 
decoration in a simple, attractive way. If a 
narrow picture moulding is fixed to the wall 
within arm's reach it will facilitate the changing 
and hanging of pictures by the inmate of the 
room without marring the walls. If pictures 
are kept permanently on the walls a choice 
may be made in the coloured prints expressive 
of action—stage-coach days and hunting scenes, 
some of them with humorous motives. The 
opportunity for adding some personal contribu¬ 
tions to the walls is seldom given, but always 
enjoyed. 

The homelike feeling that draperies at the 
windows impart need not be forgotten nor 
set aside from over-strict motives of ventilation, 
as the manner of making and hanging will 
71 


HOME FURNISHING 


accomplish both artistic and practical aims. 
Wash muslins for dress use in small-flowered 
designs are a dainty, uncostly selection for the 
housemaid’s windows. 

The rugs for the floor may fit the spaces 
beside the bed and in front of the bureau and 
washstand in sizes not too large for easy cleaning 
and in colours neither dark nor light. A mix¬ 
ture of wood browns is a safe choice for almost 
any colour scheme employed in this room, and 
the small Scotch rugs are appropriate for this 
use. 

A bathroom for the housemaid is no remark¬ 
able luxury in houses of late construction, but 
if the washing arrangements are kept in the 
bedroom they may be chosen for their neat 
style. To be able to replace broken pieces 
without mismatching them, it is wiser to buy 
from an open stock of toilet ware. 

While every effort to make the interior of 
the housemaid’s room attractive and comfort¬ 
able is being made, its exposure will be most 
potent in assisting or defeating the results. A 


72 


KITCHEN AND HOUSEMAID’S ROOM 


south room will do the most in giving a whole¬ 
some atmosphere, both in summer and winter. 

When a sitting room or servants’ hall is pro¬ 
vided on the first floor it is often used at meal 
times. A table in the centre will serve for 
dining and evening use. A rug may cover the 
floor in the winter and be removed in the sum¬ 
mer. The windows may have muslin or chintz 
curtains to the sill, and the walls may be pa¬ 
pered, painted in oil or tinted with water colours. 
Comfortable rockers, some side and arm chairs 
with cane seats, hanging shelves for books and 
small articles and a few pictures may complete 
the fittings of this room. Freedom in rearrang¬ 
ing the furnishings will add to the pleasure 
of the inmates and give something of the feeling 
of ownership. 

If it is impossible to provide a room of this 
kind, a laundry that is near the kitchen may 
be converted into quite a good substitute on 
other days than those devoted to washing and 
ironing, by installing chairs, tables and a good 
reading light. 


73 


IX 

THE BEDROOM 

Fashions in bedrooms have not altered very 
much during the past century, but previous to 
that time they had a changeful history. In 
mediaeval days the mattress was laid on the 
floor, and afterwards raised on a wooden frame¬ 
work tied across with cords. From this rude 
construction the comfortable bed of modern 
times has been evolved. 

The custom among royalty and its followers 
of giving formal receptions while in bed caused 
the cabinet-makers and jewellers to lavish their 
utmost skill on this piece of furniture. Mag¬ 
nificent carving and silver inlaying made an 
ornate and luxurious background for the hostess, 
who, attired in stiff brocade and towering head¬ 
dress, gave card parties and suppers from her 
bedside. 

Nowadays the bedroom receives a wide 

74 


THE BEDROOM 


latitude in its furnishings, suiting more com¬ 
pletely the tastes and uses of its owner than 
any other room in the house. 

The ideal bedroom is one that is arranged 
only for sleeping and resting hours, with con¬ 
necting bath and dressing rooms, and separate 
rooms for leisure and working hours. A bedroom 
used exclusively as a sleeping apartment may 
be treated in a very simple style. There should 
be windows on opposite sides of the wall to give 
ventilation, and the nearer these are placed to 
the ceiling the better the circulation of air. If 
paper is desired for the wall finish, there are 
innumerable artistic patterns from which to 
choose, and some sanitary prints that are 
capable of being cleaned with water. An oil 
paint in a flat finish may be applied if a plain, 
sanitary covering is preferred. Of course, in 
choosing the decoration for the wall, a harmo¬ 
nious combination with the woodwork, floor 
covering and furniture should be sought. 

Some of the papers in chintz patterns have 
a cretonne to match, and in combining the two 
75 


HOME FURNISHING 


the bed covering and furniture slips may be 
of the fabric. The use of a figured cretonne for 
the windows that will exactly match the wall 
paper is not advisable except in very limited 
quarters where an effect of space must be se¬ 
cured at a loss of variety. 

The woodwork in the bedroom, whether the 
furniture is antique or modern, should be neat 
and plain, painted white in an egg-shell finish. 
Muslin curtains have the advantage of being 
easily laundered in the house and so presenting 
a continual appearance of freshness. The cur¬ 
tains may be slipped over a small brass rod, 
with hooks and loops to catch them back to the 
sides of the casement. An over-curtain of 
cretonne, art ticking, denim, linen taffeta or 
chintz may be adopted during the winter months, 
and if it is sewed to rings it need not interfere 
with proper ventilation. 

To prevent the accumulation of dust in this 
room, it is better to leave the floor uncarpeted 
and lay small mats beside the bed, bureau and 
doorways. The new washable cotton rugs, 

76 



Courtesy of Erskine-Danforth Corporation, N. Y. 

BEDROOM SET OF WHITE WALNUT AND MAPLE. EARLY AMERICAN FINISH. GLAZED CHINTZ 
DRAPERIES; HOOKED AND BRAIDED RUGS; BUTTERFLY TABLE AND BARLOW ROCKER 




















































THE BEDROOM 


made in the old rag-style, but in more artis¬ 
tic colourings than those of the old days, are 
excellent for the bedroom, and particularly 
adapted to summer use. A night table may be 
placed at the head of the bed, with a candle and 
matches, watch holder and a small tray for 
drinking-water. 

If the bed is used as a resting place during 
the day, the freshness of the bed may be pre¬ 
served by having a lounge for day naps. This 
should be placed so that it will not face the 
light, and should be equipped with pillows and 
a light spread. The bedroom lounge may be 
covered with a linen or cotton material, in keep¬ 
ing with the washable goods at the windows 
and on the bed. A comfortable rocker and 
an easy chair will supplement the bed and 
lounge. 

A dressing room adjoining the sleeping room 
need not be as large nor have as many windows 
as the latter. Space is not necessary, except 
for the accommodation of the chiffonier, dress¬ 
ing table or shaving stand. Further additions 
77 


HOME FURNISHING 


for dressing, which are of service, are a wooden 
tree for airing night-clothes during the day and 
for holding at night the garments that are worn 
in the daytime; a low slipper chair for putting 
on and taking off shoes, a press or closet for 
keeping clothes from the dampness, and a long 
mirror. 

In a dressing room the modern cheval glass, 
set on casters and made to tilt at any angle, is 
a practical selection. Lacking the space that 
this piece of furniture demands, a substitute 
can be made by setting a large sheet of looking- 
glass into the panelling of a door. Sometimes 
the inside of a closet door is lined with a long 
mirror, or a glass is set against the wall with 
the moulding at the base cut out to allow the 
reflection to extend to the floor. 

When the bedroom must, however, cover the 
needs of both night and day, and is used for 
sleeping, working, dressing and resting, the 
problem of furnishing becomes more compli¬ 
cated, and William Morris’s direction to have 
nothing around that is not serviceable or beau- 
78 


THE BEDROOM 


tiful will be a good one to follow. The bed, 
lounge, easy chair, dressing table and wash- 
stand, night table, work table, desk and book¬ 
shelves must all be selected with care to fit 
their allotted spaces without crowding. 

The three pieces of furniture that are usually 
included in the furnishing of a bedroom that 
is also used for dressing are a bureau, dressing 
table and chiffonier. Sometimes the chiffonier 
and bureau answer all the necessary require¬ 
ments, if the latter piece has a dressing mirror 
attached to it. A chiffonier for a man’s cloth¬ 
ing is a late invention in which open trays take 
the place of drawers, with wardrobe doors as 
a protection from dust. 

A unique bureau, patterned after the Japanese 
travelling bureau, is sometimes admitted in the 
bedroom. It is made in two parts, each one 
having handles of iron through which a pole 
may be slipped if the chest is to be carried by 
hand. 

A bureau with two small drawers at the top, 
for holding the minor articles of dress, is more 


79 


HOME FURNISHING 


convenient than one with drawers all of one 
size; but any cabinet maker can add interior 
compartments to a large top drawer for the con¬ 
venient disposal of gloves, handkerchiefs and 
collars. 

Bureau drawers that are more than three 
feet across the front are heavy to open and 
close, and increase the difficulties experienced 
with unseasoned wood in damp weather. In 
linen closets the drawers are sometimes placed 
on rollers to facilitate their easy moving. 

If a dressing table is used in place of a bureau, 
it should not be too high to use with a chair or 
bench. The low-boy, or low chest of drawers 
of colonial times, is now reproduced in the old 
way without a mirror, and also with an up-to- 
date adjustable mirror. 

An inexpensive dressing table may be con¬ 
structed by an amateur worker with tools by 
fastening together some pine boards and nailing 
them to the top of a barrel. The boards may 
then be covered with double-faced canton 
flannel and an opaque dimity gathered around 

80 


THE BEDROOM 


the front and sides, with a cover of the same 
material laid on the top. Such a dressing table, 
to be really serviceable, should not be smaller 
than thirty-four inches broad and twenty-two 
inches deep. The same contrivance may be 
adopted for a washstand, and if it is fitted into 
an angle of the room with a protector of sheer 
muslin gathered and tacked against the wall 
to a height (above the top of the stand) of 
twenty-four inches, a dainty furnishing will be 
given the room at a minimum expense. 

The bureau of to-day has been many years in 
reaching its present practical form. Its earliest 
estate w T as a plain chest in which clothes and 
household linen were laid away, but the intro¬ 
duction of a drawer in the lower part (leaving 
a well or space above) proved to be of such 
advantage that other drawers were added. 
Sometimes the chests with drawers were made 
in two parts and placed one upon the other; 
sometimes they were made in one tall frame, 
familiarly known by the name of “tall-boy” 
or “high-boy.” 


81 


HOME FURNISHING 


The tall chest of drawers was at one period 
of its existence put aside for a more up-to-date 
piece of furniture and received into the attic 
for storage, but in the revived interest in old 
furniture it has been restored to its old position 
of usefulness. 

The early Dutch chests that were brought 
over to this country were made of walnut, and 
few of these have survived the years, except as 
they have been preserved in museums. Some 
of the old mahogany chests of drawers of the 
late eighteenth century, with inlaid lines or 
carved pillars, are still existing in houses where 
their value has been appreciated from one 
generation to another. 

The inconvenience of dressing with a mirror 
hung against the wall produced another step 
in the evolution of the bureau, and a small 
glass attached to a box was placed on the top 
of the case. After a time a mirror was fitted 
to upright mahogany posts and fastened with 
adjustable screws, and the bureau of to-day 
was complete. 


82 



BEDROOM SHOWING FURNITURE PAINTED VENETIAN GREEN. 
MULBERRY TAFFETA MAKES THE BED COVERING, AND IS 
ALSO USED IN THE SHIRRED VALANCES OF THE WINDOWS. 
THE WILLIAM AND MARY HIGH-BOY IS USED AS A DRESSER 
OR CLOTHES PRESS 


















. 











































. 

























































THE BEDROOM 


The designs for washstands are not numer¬ 
ous, and the more simple their style the more 
sanitary is their condition. “Art Nouveau’’ 
has introduced some washstand patterns al¬ 
most austere in outline, but better adapted for 
practical purposes than the carved, ornamented 
work of our own country. The square and 
corner washstands of the colonial era are quaint 
belongings for the old-fashioned bedroom, but 
their contracted size and the necessity for small 
toilet sets make them unsuitable for an age 
devoted to good bathing facilities. 

An artistic combination of shape and deco¬ 
ration seems almost impossible to reach in the 
commercial toilet sets. Form is of primary 
importance; colour effect may be secondary. 
Plain tints may be selected when a pattern is 
too aggressive, and cream white turned to if 
both colour and decoration are inappropriate. 

A correct placing of the bureau and wash- 
stand contributes not only to comfort but to 
the distinction of the room. The best position 
for a bureau is between two windows for day- 
83 


HOME FURNISHING 


time dressing, with artificial lights at each side 
for the evening. The washstand should be 
out of sight of the entrance door, and if it can 
be recessed it will be a less conspicuous feature 
in the room. 

A screen may be remembered in fitting up 
a bedroom, and a simple frame made at home 
may be covered with cretonne at a slight cost; 
or one of the Japanese screens will answer for 
the bedroom. The latter are made in many 
different sizes, they are light and easily handled 
and found in a variety of colours and designs, 
in paper, cotton and silk. If a screen that is 
heavier in weight is preferred, an oak frame in 
three or four panels may be covered with bur¬ 
lap, and to relieve the plainness a picture panel 
may fill the upper part of each leaf. 

A door guard has been originated to screen 
a bedroom when the door is left partially open. 
A strip of thick brown linen is cut the length 
of the door and five inches wide, ornamented 
with Japanese sword-hilts that give weight 
enough to keep it from blowing aside, and then 
84 



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THE BEDROOM 


hung on the inside of the room over the opening 
between the two pairs of hinges. 

There is so much interest in old furniture 
nowadays that a bedroom fitted up in antique 
pieces or their reproductions makes a pleasant 
change from modern fittings. An old four- 
poster may be made comfortable with wire 
springs and a hair mattress; an old chest may 
hold the hand-woven linen and blankets; a 
low-boy take the place of a dresser, and a high¬ 
boy become the chiffonier. Instead of a bureau 
a chest of drawers may have a shaving mirror 
in the by-gone fashion placed on its top. A 
corner or square washstand may be equipped 
with an old-blue china bowl and pitcher, and 
a candle-stand, work table, rush-seated chairs 
and rag carpet carry out the quaint ideas of the 
past. 


85 


X 

THE CHILD’S ROOM 

The element of interest is not always con¬ 
sidered in furnishing the child’s room. Com¬ 
fort, of course, should be of the first importance, 
and an artistic selection made whenever possi¬ 
ble, but a touch of the unique and entertaining 
makes the most vital appeal to the plastic na¬ 
ture of the child. 

The child’s own expression of taste may 
receive sufficient deference, in furnishing this 
room, to give him a sense of ownership in his 
surroundings, laying besides the foundations 
for the responsibilities of the home in which, 
in time, he will be the master. 

Modern conveniences are so eagerly adopted 
by the American people that the child’s room 
is not apt to be overlooked in these matters. 
The windows should be screened and shuttered 


86 


THE CHILD’S ROOM 


to keep out insects and a too-hot sun in summer; 
the sashes so placed as to secure the best venti¬ 
lation; the heating apparatus chosen for effi¬ 
ciency; the plumbing made sanitary; the location 
isolated from the other rooms as much as possi¬ 
ble. In arranging for each one of these details 
for comfort the point of permanence must be 
taken into consideration, and the price paid 
for it. 

A common mistake in furnishing a child’s 
room is to fancy that anything that is not 
wanted in other rooms may be turned to account 
there. In one house, perhaps, when the carpet 
from the first floor hall is too worn for its posi¬ 
tion it is brought up to the nursery. In another 
home, the furniture that is too disabled for 
parlour or library is passed on to the room de¬ 
voted to the children. In like manner the 
child’s room receives faded curtains, half-worn 
portieres and soiled sofa pillows. Sometimes 
the refurnishing of some one room leaves cer¬ 
tain pieces that do not fit into the new colour 
scheme. The children’s room is immediately 
87 


HOME FURNISHING 


thought of as a place to receive articles that 
are “altogether too good to be thrown away.” 
Under such rulings as these the child’s room 
naturally loses any characteristic quality of its 
own, and takes on the appearance of a second- 
rate auction shop. 

Three connecting rooms for sleeping, play¬ 
ing and bathing, with each item of furnishing 
and decoration carefully planned, form the ideal 
suite for the child. In the sleeping room there 
need be few articles of furniture—a crib or 
bedstead, a chair or two, a chiffonier or chest 
of drawers, with closets conveniently fitted up 
for holding clothing. The floor may be laid with 
rugs that are small in size and soft in texture; 
the walls may be painted in oil and trimmed 
with a narrow stencil border around doors and 
windows. The windows may be hung with 
muslin curtains and dark shades, shutters being 
put up for the summer months. 

In a bathroom that is the exclusive property 
of a child the space above the wainscot may be 
decorated with a picture paper in sanitary 


THE CHILD’S ROOM 


finish. A dainty look will be given with pink 
and white for the colours in rugs and woodwork. 
In one little girl’s bathroom a touch of plant 
life was always present in a growing fern that 
was set on the wide window-sill. 

The wall decoration has a large share in mak¬ 
ing a child’s room attractive. Only too often 
ignorance of this fact allows the walls to be 
painted or tinted in a crude colour, or an in¬ 
artistic paper to be hung, or a careless com¬ 
bination to be made with side walls and frieze. 
The wall colour itself is of so much moment 
that it should take the precedence in planning 
a general scheme for the room. 

In the day nursery or playroom the walls 
may be treated in different ways, but whatever 
style is adopted it is best to keep the ceiling in 
a cream-white tint. If the walls are higher 
than nine feet, the ceiling tint may be brought 
down on the side wall for twelve or eighteen 
inches, with a picture moulding joining it to 
the paper below it. A paper for the walls 
should be selected with care, and an endeavour 


HOME FURNISHING 


made to secure only a few harmonious colours 
in a good design. 

When a painted or tinted wall is desired, the 
colour may be suited to the window light and 
exposure. A sunny outlook, or a many-win¬ 
dowed room, will require to have the light 
tempered with green, blue or gray on the walls. 
When sunlight is deficient, a soft pink or buff 
will be the right tone to put on the walls. A 
plain-painted wall lacks interest for a child who 
loves the pictorial element near him, and some 
atonement should be rendered with framed or 
unframed pictures. 

A wall that is tinted in water colour or kalso- 
mine is easily soiled and not advisable for the 
child’s room. The egg-shell finish given with 
oil paints is preferable, as the common gloss is 
too smooth-looking to be artistic. Walls in 
the egg-shell finish may easily be cleaned with 
soap and water, and pencil marks, finger prints 
and the like will not do irreparable damage. 

Plain-paifiled walls may be decorated in a 
variety of ways by the use of stencils. A light 


90 


THE CHILD’S ROOM 


colour may have a pattern stencilled upon it, 
giving a pleasant, two-toned appearance. The 
design may be simple or intricate, the colours 
may be few, the expense of time and money 
small or large, but the decorator should always 
keep in mind that little folks are to live in the 
room upon which he is expending his skill. 

The space above the mantel-shelf gives an 
opportunity for hanging a picture that will 
appeal particularly to childish eyes. The 
Mother Goose chintz may be utilised as an over¬ 
mantel decoration at a slight cost. In another 
room a section of the Parthenon frieze in plaster 
may be fitted in the wall above the mantel. 
The Della Robbia singing boys have become 
so popular for this purpose that architects in¬ 
corporate the plaster reliefs in the woodwork 
that is designed for the nursery. 

It is better to cover nearly the entire floor 
of the child’s playroom. If a rug of the right 
size cannot be procured, a substitute can always 
be had in carpet which may be made up with 
or without a border. The mottled velvets are 


91 


HOME FURNISHING 


well suited to this room, their effect being like 
a plain carpet with less delicacy in wearing. 
There are also Wilton rugs and ingrain rugs 
made in Scotland that will be liked in this 
room. 

In making a study of the needs of the child, 
chairs may be selected for comfort, bookshelves 
placed within reach, and tables chosen of the 
right height. Artistic furniture for the use of 
children has never until lately been manufac¬ 
tured in much variety; but nearly all of the 
shapes made for older people may be found 
now in miniature sizes. A chest for toys, six¬ 
teen by thirty-one inches, may be devised at 
home, using white wood and staining it in 
willow-green. The top, front and sides may be 
covered with a nursery chintz, and the edges 
of the material covered with furniture gimp. 
A shallow tray divided into compartments may 
be fitted into the inside of the chest, and brass 
handles, a lock and a key added. 

The shading of the windows of the child’s 
room should be essentially practical, but not 


92 



AN OLD PICTURE MIRROR 


A CHEST FOR TOYS 












































































































THE CHILD’S ROOM 


to the exclusion of some pretty curtains. The 
usefulness of the open fireplace is nowhere in 
the house so conclusively demonstrated as in the 
nursery. It may be of the plainest type and 
of the utmost simplicity in its fittings, yet accom¬ 
plish as much good as one of a more expen¬ 
sive character. A spark guard of wire netting 
should be provided to protect the children from 
accidental contact with the fire. 

In a room used by a boy or a girl for playing, 
studying and sleeping there is a triple oppor¬ 
tunity for interesting furnishing. A young lad 
who was fond of Indian life and history collected 
some different trophies which were made a wall 
decoration in one corner of his room. A Navajo 
blanket was tacked to another side of the wall, 
and a floor rug made with a second Indian 
blanket. 

A young girl who had considerable musical 
talent was encouraged by having a piano placed 
in her own room where lessons and practising 
could go on without interrupting the family 
occupations. The experiment proved thorough- 


93 


HOME FURNISHING 


ly successful in furthering the progress of the 
girhs studies in music, and also established a 
helpful atmosphere of musical art in her own 
room. 

The care of children during contagious 
illnesses is often a perplexing matter to the 
household. The location of the nursery at 
such a time shows the wisdom, or lack of it, 
of the builder. A plan adopted by a family 
who lived in a country town was to keep a 
room ready in the barn where a child ill with a 
contagious disease could be cared for by a nurse. 
The equipment was like that of a private hos¬ 
pital, with white enamelled bed, table, chairs 
and conveniences for nursing, and a telephone 
connection with the house. Attraction was 
lent to the novel scheme by keeping certain 
books and toys for entertainment during con¬ 
valescence, and using a set of dishes decorated 
with scenes from Mother Goose tales. 


94 


XI 

THE GUEST’S ROOM 

A pereection of details is the high-water 
mark in a room devoted to visitors. In the 
other rooms of the house any deviation from 
comfort receives compensation by the individ¬ 
ualising charm of ownership. The guest’s 
room, however, has no plea of this kind to sus¬ 
tain any failure to meet the requirements of 
its successive occupants. 

The guest’s room, to be a success, must be 
fitted up with the best that modern art and 
ingenuity provides in house furnishings. It 
must be treated, too, with an intelligence that 
will cover a diversity of needs; with taste to 
make every selection an artistic one, and with 
sympathy to invest the transient character of 
the room with some touch of homelikeness. 

In building a new house the location of the 
guest’s room should receive consideration. Not 
95 


HOME FURNISHING 


being in constant use like the family apartments, 
a north, east or west exposure may be accepted, 
provided the lack of sunshine be requited with 
an open fireplace and warm-hued decorations. 

The ideal arrangements for a guest are a 
bedroom with an adjoining bath and dressing 
room; but when plumbing facilities are out 
of the question a small room for bathing and 
dressing may still be possible. 

In country homes where space permits the 
luxury of more than one room for visitors, it 
is convenient to give up a room on the first 
floor to men. For such a room a college man 
devised a colour scheme from the colours of 
his Alma Mater, with decorations, from trophies 
and pictures of student days. 

The blue-and-white or pink-and-white pretti¬ 
ness of the traditional guest’s room may be 
entirely discarded in fitting up one for a man’s 
use. For the latter, one may begin with the 
woodwork and furniture and make the selec¬ 
tions for both of these important items in a 
rich-toned brown oak. The bed requires neither 


THE GUEST’S ROOM 


canopy nor frill, but if an interesting counter¬ 
pane is sought, it can be found among the 
cotton Japanese prints, Italian or Oriental 
embroidered goods, hand-printed French linens 
or English chintzes. An oak chest may be 
stationed at the foot of the bed to hold a reserve 
of bedclothes for cold nights, and this article 
may also do service as a slipper chair. 

A new style of chiffonier for a man’s clothing, 
with a sliding shaving glass, does away with 
the two pieces for clothes and shaving, neither 
of which has as yet been created on very grace¬ 
ful lines. 

A table that is firm enough to hold a reading 
lamp and a comfortable armchair are needed 
in this room. If a carpet is chosen for the 
floor the pattern may be in a Persian rug in 
deep, quiet colours. In place of lace curtains 
some coloured net may be hung on brass rings 
that are slipped over a small brass rod. 

In covering the wall the ordinary bedroom 
paper in floral design may be set aside for a 
plain or a two-toned English paper, or some 


97 


HOME FURNISHING 


conventional design in three colours. Or, a 
border may be made, in a room where a high 
ceiling seems too formal, with a figured paper, 
and a two-toned paper may fill the lower wall. 
Some of the new poster borders are suitable 
for the guest room of a man. 

In a room that is expected to be occupied 
by two visitors two single beds may be installed 
instead of one double bed. White iron or 
brass, oak, maple or mahogany may be selected, 
but any curtailment of expense should be given 
to the bed frame rather than the fittings of the 
bed itself. The pieces of furniture should 
comprise, besides the bed, a lounge for day use, 
a bureau or dresser, a chiffonier, a night stand, 
a dressing mirror, a folding screen, an easy 
chair and rocker, a trunk stand, slipper chair 
and two side chairs. In supplying the small 
articles of toilet that may be called into use 
for guests whose luggage fails to arrive, the 
preference may be given to simple, substan¬ 
tial qualities without useless or perfunctory 
ornament. 


98 


THE GUEST’S ROOM 


Matting is often used for a floor covering 
when the boards will not permit the use of 
rugs; but an objection to matting is the odour 
it emits in damp weather or when the room 
is not thoroughly aired. A cotton filling in 
a neutral colour may be substituted for the 
matting if a wool filling cannot be afforded. 

Lace or net curtains to screen the windows 
may hang to the floor or only to the sill, accord¬ 
ing to the shape of the casement and the 
furnishing of the room. Short muslin cur¬ 
tains may be held back by cotton loops if the 
sash does not require screening. In winter 
a second pair of long curtains of cretonne, 
sateen, linen taffeta or chintz may be added. 

An opportunity for using a wall paper with 
a striking design is at hand in the guest’s room, 
where such a choice gives better results than 
the admission of inconsequent pictures that 
are hung merely to fill up the walls. With a 
paper of this character the walls may be bal¬ 
anced by plain window hangings and plain 
or two-toned furniture coverings. 


99 


HOME FURNISHING 


Family photographs and all personal sou¬ 
venirs belonging to the household should not 
be admitted as decorations or furnishings in 
the guest’s room, but the expression of the 
hostess’s taste can find an outlet in the small 
belongings for the dressing table—brush and 
comb, hand mirror, powder box, manicure tools, 
pin tray, hair receiver, glove and boot fastener. 

A set of sewing materials on a small scale 
may be a part of the equipments for the guest’s 
room, and these may be kept in orderly fashion 
in a Martha Washington stand. A tea stand 
for serving “the cup that cheers” to a visitor 
arriving between meal hours makes another 
pretty equipment and odd pieces of china may 
be selected for it. 

Bookshelves and writing desk or table never 
accomplish their full mission of usefulness un¬ 
less they receive intelligent care. The secret 
of their success is in their being kept up-to- 
date, one with its fresh volumes and new maga¬ 
zines, the other with clean pens and supplies 
of stationery. 


IOO 


THE GUESTS ROOM 


As certain perfumes are the cause of great 
discomfort to some persons, the rule in the 
guest’s room may be to keep everything of 
this kind outside its walls. Instead of closing 
the room when not in use, it is better to let it 
partake of the atmosphere of the house, taking 
care to give a thorough ventilation before and 
after it is occupied. 

The interest in collecting antique furniture 
is often directed to the fittings of the guest’s 
room, and when this is done the most pictur¬ 
esque effects will be obtained by carrying the 
idea through all of the furnishings and deco¬ 
rations. As these “real old things” are be¬ 
coming very scarce and, in consequence, too 
precious for the wear-and-tear of every-day 
use, the room reserved for visitors will be a 
place for their safe keeping, where they will 
fill a utilitarian office outside of their value 
as a collection. 


IOI 


XII 

THE VERANDA 

A large degree of comfort in warm weather 
depends upon the piazza space that is avail¬ 
able for fitting up as a sitting room. When 
the porch opens from a living room the inte¬ 
rior furnishings may be used in either place 
with a few extra pieces for the especial require¬ 
ments of one or the other. 

The ideal veranda is seldom planned from 
the beginning, but its attractiveness develops 
as it meets the needs of the household. 

The porch, in its relation to the house, has 
undergone a perceptible change in the past few 
years. Incorporated as it formerly was with the 
front entrance to the house the piazza lacked 
the element of privacy. In the newer architect¬ 
ure this need is recognised by placing the out¬ 
door sitting place as far removed as possible 
from the main entranceway, to the gain of se¬ 
clusion and freedom from interruptions. 


102 


THE VERANDA 


A consideration of the piazza and its pos¬ 
sibilities often reveals some fundamental mis¬ 
take in its shape, size or location. An in¬ 
stance in which a simple remedy was applied 
for one of these errors was the changing of 
the entrance steps from one side (where they 
were close upon a neighbour’s premises) to 
the opposite end. In another house a veranda 
that stretched straight across the front of the 
building in an uninteresting way was improved 
by carrying it around on one side and throw¬ 
ing out the angle in circular shape. To still 
another piazza extra space was added to the 
floor, which had been unpleasantly cramped, 
and an awning was put up for occasional use. 

Structural defects may not always be possible 
to overcome, but they will be rendered less ob¬ 
trusive by a careful selection of furnishings and 
some ingenuity displayed in arrangement. The 
long lines so commonly seen in the porches 
of suburban homes may be made much less 
conspicuous if they are broken up by cross lines. 
The latter may be effected with the floor cover- 


103 


HOME FURNISHING 


ings or furniture or other movable furnishings. 
The outlines of the floor may be followed in 
selecting rugs, and the general proportions 
observed in choosing the furniture. 

An uncovered floor is not at all undesirable 
for the veranda in warm weather, but if rugs 
are adopted they should be appropriate to the 
place. The cotton or jute rugs in dark colour¬ 
ings are inexpensive but not very durable. 
The East Indian mats in mixed patterns of 
dull red, ecru and black are cool-looking but 
unstable in colour. The grass rugs in plain 
red with a green border, or plain green with a 
red border are inexpensive and suited to the 
out-door scheme. Navajo blankets are of the 
most lasting value, as the sun or rain will not 
spoil their dyes. The imported dhurrie rugs 
are striking in design and colour, but not last¬ 
ing. Their designs bear a close resemblance 
to the Navajos. 

The right placing of chairs and tables is an 
item that is nearly as important as their good 
selection. As the veranda is so frequently 


104 


THE VERANDA 


a stopping-place between trips out-of-doors and 
within, it is wise to provide a comfortable chair 
and a low table near the entrance where one 
may rest and lay aside gloves, hat or parasol. 

In the choice of the furniture the first thought 
is naturally to provide only such pieces as will 
endure the changes of weather; but so little 
variety is possible in weather-proof wood that 
it is more expedient to depend on two sets of 
chairs, for use in fair and changeable weather, 
the set for the latter light and quickly moved. 

No prettier examples of porch furniture 
can be found than those made in our native 
willow by hand, in numberless patterns and 
sizes. By covering the willow with a varnish 
stain it can be brought into any colour scheme, 
and the seats and backs cushioned with plain 
or figured materials offer a further means for 
introducing artistic effects. Glazed chintzes 
and hand-printed linens are the newest ma¬ 
terials for the coverings when designs are in 
order, and crinkled taffetas and rough-woven 
linens for plain colours. 

105 


HOME FURNISHING 


In providing seats for the veranda the list 
will not be complete unless hammocks, chairs, 
footstools, benches and floor cushions are in¬ 
cluded. 

Rustic chairs and seats have been for many 
years a pretence for comfort, and not con¬ 
structed for beauty; but a better type is seen 
in smooth unpeeled wood that is physically 
commendable and attractive in appearance. 
One advantage of this furniture is its proof 
against rain and storms. 

The colonial table-settle, in its oblong or 
circular shape, has gravitated from the kitchen 
to the piazza, where it accomplishes a triple 
office as chair, table and chest. This article 
is manufactured now in different sizes to meet 
an increasing demand, from the single seat to 
others six or eight feet long. Two coats of 
out-door paint should be put over the unfin¬ 
ished wood if it is to be exposed to the weather. 

A small stool or bench that may be trans¬ 
ferred from one portion of the veranda to an¬ 
other may be found in bamboo, willow, wicker 

106 



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THE VERANDA 


or in Turkish make in which wood and strips 
of cloth are combined. 

Rockers with high backs are the most rest¬ 
ful chairs for the porch, but a variety of styles 
should be chosen to suit different persons. 
A steamer chair, one of the East Indian loung¬ 
ing chairs, or a swinging seat may supplement 
the hammock and be fitted with cushions and 
pillows. 

An uncovered piazza requires some especial 
chairs, like the tall beach variety, made in willow 
or wicker, to give protection from the sun and 
wind without depriving its occupant of the 
fresh air. A swinging seat with an awning 
attachment is also welcome on the open porch. 

A novel kind of hammock has recently been 
originated through the revived interest in rag 
weaving. Strips of cotton cloth are woven 
with a warp of linen thread in the old rag car¬ 
pet style, with a result comfort-giving, durable 
and pleasing. The hammock taking the place 
of a lounge needs a set of pillows varying in 
weight and size to suit different occupants. 


107 


HOME FURNISHING 


Silks, velvets, tapestries and embroideries may 
be passed by in the search for hammock pillow 
covers, and inexpensive materials chosen from 
washable materials, dark cretonnes, or such 
dress goods as galatea or gingham. If a deco¬ 
rative touch is fancied, some all-over stencilling 
may be applied to burlap in the soft finish 
or homespun linens. 

Floor cushions are to be remembered, and 
these may be covered with striped duck, denim, 
grass cloth or corduroy, and filled with moss 
or hair. 

A roomy porch will allow, besides the usual 
arm chairs and rockers, a small swing chair 
for the children and a large swinging settle 
for the older ones in the family. A square 
drop-leaf table and an oval or round tip-table 
are convenient for serving emergency lunches 
or afternoon tea. A light table that may 
easily be transferred from one part of the ve¬ 
randa to another may be selected in willow, 
round, square or oblong, in the natural finish 
or stained any colour. A tea wagon, com- 

108 


THE VERANDA 


pletely equipped with a tea service, is made, 
to be wheeled out from the dining room upon 
the porch, and the top is kept for the serving 
and pouring of tea. Another device for this 
place is a carrying tray of copper which holds 
the alcohol lamps and kettle, besides the sugar 
bowl, cream jug, and cups and saucers. 

An inexpensive device for holding books 
and papers is a wide shelf that folds against 
the side of the house. This may be put up 
by anyone who is handy with tools, and painted 
to match the colour of the wood against which 
it rests. 

The privacy of the veranda may be helped 
by growing vines on the open sides. While 
hardy growths are slowly making headway 
some of the annual vines may be depended 
upon for a quick shade. The Japanese screens 
and striped awnings of duck are further means 
of inclosing the porch. The former have 
proved so useful that they are now made in 
colours to suit the house instead of in the bright 
and aggressive yellow of the varnished rattan. 

109 


HOME FURNISHING 


Plants grouped along the outer edges of the 
piazza floor, or arranged in the corners or 
nooks, will bring the atmosphere of the garden 
within close range. Jars or holders of pottery- 
may be used for the flower pots, or wooden 
boxes painted like the sides or floors of the 
piazza may be filled with plants and drooping 
vines. 

Hanging baskets of porcelain for the veranda 
are made by the Japanese, and wall pockets 
and pot holders, suspended by strands of raffia, 
are the work of our own country people. Some 
special flower holders may be kept for the 
veranda in Spanish or Mexican jars and vases. 

The piazza should have a thoroughly prac¬ 
tical means of illumination on dark nights, 
with care paid to the entrance steps. If gas 
or electricity cannot be introduced in a sub¬ 
stantial wrought iron lantern, a picturesque 
brass lantern to hold oil may be substituted. 
The better quality of paper lanterns made by 
the Japanese may always be adopted when 
festive occasions require a decorative feature. 


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THE VERANDA 


No part of summer life is so delightful as 
that of having some of the meals out-of-doors. 
A porch that leads into the dining room makes 
this enjoyment one that exacts little care and 
permits frequent transits from the interior 
to an open-air feast. The decorations of the 
porch may be left to such utilitarian articles 
as lanterns, flower holders, awnings and screens, 
which contribute interest and charm that are 
not dependent on the purely ornamental. 


\ 


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PART SECOND 





















PART SECOND 


XIII 

FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 

Although an eminent English architect 
has said, “The art of our houses should speak 
the language of our own day, and not be a 
reproduction or imitation of the art, no matter 
how beautiful, of other days, in which the 
conditions of life were totally different,” to 
follow out his theory would be to limit us, 
at times, to inferior styles not worth perpet¬ 
uating and to deprive us of much from the 
past that is too good to be lost. 

The household arts are always closely asso¬ 
ciated with prevailing conditions of life, and 
a study, however slight, of the first should, 
to be at all comprehensive, embrace a history 
of the times and the people. With both these 
points well-defined the application of the old 
styles to modern usage will be better under¬ 
stood. 


HOME FURNISHING 


In the latter part of the eighteenth century cab¬ 
inet making in England was conspicuously active. 
Mahogany began to be used and its adoption 
marked a new era for furniture, and drew forth a 
set of designers whose ability carried their names 
down, even to our own times, with favour. 

There is much discussion about the authen¬ 
ticity of chairs called by the name of Thomas 
Chippendale, one of the most popular of the 
English furniture designers. The confusion in 
regard to his models seems impossible to 
clear up, as Chippendale not only made original 
and curious designs to order, which have been 
preserved in printed form in his book, but 
also made the general line of furniture called 
for during his life-time. His patterns show 
a mixture of the French, Gothic and Chinese, 
which he combined with wonderful facility 
into an artistic whole. In recording his own 
ideas on the subject he speaks of mahogany 
as little used by himself, of inlay as not em¬ 
ployed at all, and of carving and gilding as 
his favourite field of decoration. 


FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


Thomas Sheraton, another of these cele¬ 
brated eighteenth-century designers, excelled 
and delighted in inlaid work, which he applied 
on simple, tapering models. “The making 
of chairs,” says Sheraton, “requires a particu¬ 
lar turn in the handling of the slope to make 
them graceful and easy.” Modern builders 
of chairs unfortunately do not always attain 
the “particular turn” of Sheraton’s ideal, as 
the chairs, many of them, of our present time 
are neither graceful nor easy. 

Heppelwhite, whose wide range of chair 
patterns made him the prince of inventors, 
created a light graceful style that at once be¬ 
came the fashion and quite put aside his con¬ 
temporaries’ attempts in the same line. The 
heart-back or oval-back chair with curving 
spindles and delicate carving is the best-known 
of Heppelwhite’s designs. 

The work of these men was naturally trans¬ 
ferred to America by the well-to-do families 
who came over with all their movable house¬ 
hold effects. Although it represented the Geor- 


HOME FURNISHING 


gian period while it was in England, it became 
so identified with our colonial times that it 
is generally associated with that date. Its 
tasteful, dignified lines have been in the last 
quarter-century revived with enthusiasm, and 
copies of the old chairs, sofas, tables and 
sideboards are in demand. The genuine pieces 
are very scarce and are rarely seen except in 
museums, but when they are put on sale they 
command high prices. 

The opening of the nineteenth century 
brought a concluding phase to French house¬ 
hold art which had been diversified by the 
influences of the different sovereigns of a 
preceding century. The artists of this period, 
in seeking inspiration for the new Empire, 
studied old Rome and antique Greece, and 
reproduced the classic art with Egyptian de¬ 
tails. A formal stiffness was the general 
effect, and the ornamentation was chiefly 
rosettes, a laurel wreath tied with bow-knots, 
or swans and sphinxes made in copper bas- 
relief, and set on the furniture. 

118 


FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


Two architects of Napoleon’s time, Percier 
and Fontaine, who were practically the orig¬ 
inators of the Empire style, became world- 
famous. They designed every article that 
pertained to the houses they built—stuffs 
and wall papers, table services, lamps, stoves, 
clocks, frames and footstools. They restored 
and added to the Louvre, Saint Cloud, Tuiler- 
ies, Compiegne, Versailles, Fontainebleau and 
Elysee. They also designed and built the 
Arc de Triomphe and Arc de Carrousel in 
Paris, and their work extended even to royal 
residences in Belgium, Germany and Italy. 

So pervasive was this school of art that 
it was repeated in our own country in furniture 
that, if not brought directly over from France, 
was copied here from French models. The 
original examples are more numerous than 
those of the century preceding it, and although 
its use succeeded the days of the English 
colonies it is often classed with colonial furnish¬ 
ings. 

A Continental attempt to introduce a new 


HOME FURNISHING 


household art, called “L’Art Nouveau,” has 
reached us, but has not received sufficient en¬ 
couragement on this side of the water to make 
it an established success. Its flowing curves, 
delicate ornamentation and exquisite workman¬ 
ship demand special accompaniments in wall¬ 
papers and floor coverings, and when carried 
out with fidelity some charming interiors have 
been produced. 

The householder of moderate means does 
well to choose the English cottage type of fur¬ 
niture for her house, for the tradition of the 
American home harks back to the English. 
America was settled largely from England, and 
most of the furniture brought over in the early 
ships was English; and when new and hand¬ 
somer pieces were desired the colonists bought 
them along with textiles, silver, china and glass, 
largely from English firms. When we remember 
that the fashions in London were eagerly fol¬ 
lowed by those in America who could afford to 
do so the knowledge of the style in one country 
explains the appearance of it in the other. 


120 



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FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


As the states were first settled during the 
reigns of Elizabeth, Henry VIII, James and 
Charles, the furniture brought here, naturally, 
was Elizabethan, Jacobean and later William 
and Mary. Among the Dutch settlers around 
Philadelphia and Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch 
furniture predominated,—including hutches, 
chests or kas as they were called. The bureaus 
were highboys or tallboys with cabriole legs, 
made of walnut. In the sections where the 
English mostly settled,—around Boston, on the 
Hudson and in the Virginias,—oak, mahogany 
and cherry were the most used woods. Some of 
this furniture with the original bill of sale has 
been preserved, adding to the value as well as 
making the article much more interesting. 
Other pieces have been made in America from 
originals, and some well known firms take the 
greatest pride in reproducing faithfully the 
more beautiful ones. The term Colonial that 
is used so indiscriminately is really the Amer¬ 
ican reproduction of the English furniture of 
that time. 


121 


HOME FURNISHING 


To understand further how this furniture 
evolved in England is to remember that war¬ 
fare and robbery lessening throughout the coun¬ 
try, gave the warriors time to turn to the use¬ 
ful arts around the home. Shops began to 
flourish, weavers to make textiles, architects 
to design buildings and artists to decorate 
them. As Francis I had asked Italian silver¬ 
smiths, painters, sculptors to work in France 
for him, so Henry VIII invited Van Dyck to 
become his court painter; the Revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes also scattered in England 
many textile workers of high grade, all of which 
accounts for the mingling of many foreign 
characteristics found in English furniture and 
textiles. Charles had much work done for him 
by French workmen, and William and Mary 
found the atmosphere in London so cold and 
alien, that they imported as many Dutch 
fashions and furniture as they dared from 
Holland. 

Although at the time, people scoffed at 
Queen Anne for her domesticity, to her reign 


122 


FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


and that of Mary date many household articles 
of comfort. Chairs were then first designed to 
fit the human figure; cushions made settles and 
benches easier; chair covers, curtains, bed 
spreads and footstools were embroidered, not 
only by the ladies-in-waiting, but by the Queen 
herself, and a big impetus was given in this 
way to the household arts. 

The study of furniture is in its way as much 
a study of history as is the study of architec¬ 
ture. It becomes fascinating in its lure. Chairs 
and tables when you know how and under 
what circumstances they were made and used, 
people a room with personality. The carving 
on an English chair of a so-called Spanishfoot, 
becomes intelligible when you know it was used 
first in Spain, traveled to Holland, and thence 
to England in the endeavor to appease a queen’s 
homesickness. How it came to travel from 
Spain in the first place is explained by the fact 
that Philip was king of both Spain and Holland 
and commerce between the two countries was 
constant. 


123 


HOME FURNISHING 


Travelers, finding the way to India and 
China, brought back all kinds of silks, pottery 
and fans, and the furniture makers adapted 
Chinese designs freely to every kind of article. 
Thomas Chippendale made so many that much 
of his work is called Chinese Chippendale. 
Some of the chair backs and cabinets are almost 
fantastic, but the plainer styles are well pro¬ 
portioned and beautiful in design and finish. 
Sheraton and Hepplewhite were the furniture 
makers closely following Chippendale and their 
work is chaste and refined. Some of their 
slender legged, delicately inlaid sideboards, 
dressers and chairs are still in use and remain 
as beautiful as when made. 

This was the time of silks, velvets and small 
hose, of sedan chairs, link boys and routs, as 
the parties were called. Much attention was 
given to the textiles both for draperies and fur¬ 
niture coverings. A few rugs or Turkey car¬ 
pets as they were called, were brought from the 
East and valued highly. 

The Adam brothers followed next as makers 


124 



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FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


of a distinct style, and with them the Georgian 
period may be said to have been in full sway. 
(In America the names of Duncan Phyffe and 
Thomas Savery stand as makers of representa¬ 
tive work.) After this followed the poorest 
period of the Colonial type, and one not to be 
perpetuated. This reference is to the heavy 
scrolled fronts of sideboards and dressers, 
tables with ponderous center post, with the 
same ugly scrolls as feet to support it. The 
one redeeming feature of this furniture is the 
beautiful mahogany used in its making.* 

Until Art Nouveau made an attempt to find 
a place in American homes, there was no special 
change in furniture and its making. That 
these fantastic forms and striking color con- 

* In this resumk of historical furniture, no reference has been 
made to the French types. The reason is that as a rule an iso¬ 
lated article of French furniture is quite out of place in an Amer¬ 
ican home. To be properly situated, the floor coverings, walls, 
tapestries and other furnishings should be in keeping. With 
Italian furniture the case is different; it is not only contem¬ 
porary with much of the Jacobean but somewhat similar. The 
refectory and draw top tables, and most of the chairs, may be 
used interchangeably with the English furniture of the time and 
quite happily. 


125 



HOME FURNISHING 


trasts did not find a welcome here, is probably 
due to the conservative element in our people. 
The furniture looked queer and was queer, 
angular and lacking in beauty. 

The Mission idea for the time being made a 
powerful impression on the American home, 
and was probably a revulsion from the too 
frail, all-over gilt work of the Victorian period. 
In its original setting—the Mission buildings 
of California where the making was done by 
crude workmen—the furniture though primi¬ 
tive in pattern, was both useful and suitable. 
But in the home, the block like pieces that 
formed the furniture were soon found to be too 
heavy for practicality, and for the small room 
or apartment, impossible. The Craftsman fur¬ 
niture, a modification of the mission, can be 
recommended as honest in workmanship, many 
of the joints being fastened with mortise and 
tenon, and the hardware hand-beaten. 

The sphere of the lighter weight furniture 
made from cane, reed, rattan and willow, is 
not limited to the summer season or cottage 

126 


FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


service. For the porch or terrace it is com¬ 
fortable, readily moved about, and made gay 
with cushions it suggests happy times and jolly 
companionship. Although not as durable as 
heavier chairs and tables, wicker furniture when 
brought into relation with the other furnishing 
by similarity of color and cushioning, has charm. 
It may be bought unstained for a trifle less, 
and it is not a difficult matter to stain or paint 
it at home. 

Grey, putty color, black, mahogany, pea¬ 
cock blue or green are all good colors, depend¬ 
ing on the exposure of the room and the dra¬ 
peries. With the grey, gay colored draperies 
are needed; for the black, a chintz or cretonne 
that has a note of black in it, always remember¬ 
ing that the repetition of a color brings the 
furnishing of a room together. When green or 
blue is used, a wide black band may be painted 
on the flat top of the arms and back. With 
grey, a stripe of rose or Chinese red is attrac¬ 
tive, depending upon the patterm and color of 
the textiles used. For the enclosed porch or 
127 


HOME FURNISHING 


open terrace, wicker furniture is perhaps chosen 
more often than any other style. If the fur¬ 
niture is to be left out in all weathers, Old 
Hickory had better be used. It is comfortable, 
and as it is made of small trees with the bark 
left on, exposure only weathers it a trifle more. 

Elsie de Wolfe says: “Nothing so nice has 
happened in a long time as painted furniture 
and the application of quaint designs to modern 
beds, chairs and chests. You may find in¬ 
spiration in a length of chintz, an old fan or a 
certain pattern in a piece of wall paper. The 
main thing is to work out a color for the back¬ 
ground, walls, floor and rugs, and then have 
the designs painted on the furniture wherever 
they seem to belong.” There are firms who 
make a specialty of selling furniture “in the 
white,” and taking the order for the finished 
color as the customer requires. Quaintness and 
originality may be exercised in this way, es¬ 
pecially as the furniture forms have steadily 
improved in beauty. 

In the Tyrol and the Danish and Norwegian 

128 



Courtesy of Miss Julia F. Siedler 


BEAUTIFUL CONSOLE TABLE OF WALNUT, CABRIOLE LEG, AND 
BENCH COVERED WITH GROS POINT NEEDLEWORK IN BROWNS 
AND GREENS. MIRROR WITH DOUBLE FRAME OF SILVER. 
FLOWER HOLDER OF AUBERGINE COLORED GLASS 






















































































. 








































































































































































‘ 















FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


homes of the peasants, along with the burnished 
copper pots and pans, are also found gaily 
painted beds, cupboards and chairs. The rooms 
may be small but they are bright and happy 
looking. We are also finding out though slowly, 
that individuality may be charmingly expressed 
through the medium of painted furniture. 
Glazed chintz must not be overlooked in this 
connection. 

That there has been a real need for a better 
quality of American-made furniture has long 
been felt by our manufacturers; not only is 
more care used in the selection and curing of 
wood, but designs and finish are more carefully 
considered. Varnish is not indiscriminately ap¬ 
plied to every chair and table. The beautiful 
patina that age gives to a piece of wood has come 
to be admired by others than connoisseurs, so 
that the manufacturer feels that in reproducing 
it on a modern piece of furniture he has a mar¬ 
ket for exceptional work. There are exquisite 
pieces that may now be bought here at home, 
intricately carved, or cunningly inlaid with 

129 


HOME FURNISHING 


ebony, satin wood, burl walnut and feather 
grain; honestly made in the inner structure, 
also, which has to be carefully built to stand 
the strain of steam heated apartments, and the 
damp weather of summer months. 

That the public is growing more discriminat¬ 
ing is shown by the steady advance in the 
better styles shown and bought. Cheap fur¬ 
niture is always cheap; well made furniture is 
worth the money it costs, for it cannot be 
made rapidly or cheaply. Thorough crafts¬ 
manship as well as good design and fine, well- 
cured wood is absolutely necessary in the 
making of good furniture. 

In the past few years there has been a re¬ 
vival of the old and really beautiful American 
furniture, and it has been put upon the market 
under the name of Early American Furniture. 
The shapes are carefully studied, the wood se¬ 
lected for its beauty of grain, and the coloring 
mostly that of light maple. Dressers with open 
shelves for plates and pewter, four posters, 
chests of drawers, desks and rush bottomed 


130 



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FURNITURE, NEW AND OLD 


chairs are among the articles reproduced in this 
manner. The unique coloring gives it a dis¬ 
tinctive charm. The draperies for use with this 
furniture must be chosen from old prints and 
patterns. Edward S. Holloway says: “It is 
upon textiles that simple furnishing depends 
for its charm.” Hooked or braided rugs are 
the more suitable floor coverings. Pictures 
should be limited to silhouettes, samplers or 
miniatures, and the wall paper should reproduce 
one of the old patterns. 

A need of the modem family is expressed by 
the use of day beds, and as they fill a want in 
a dignified way, it is easy to predict their long 
life. The more formal the upholstery, the 
better suited the day bed is for use in the living 
room. Highboys may be used instead of 
dressers or chests of drawers, and chests may 
have their mirrors hung against the wall. 
Cords and tassels are sometimes used instead 
of wire to hang them with. Long, low Italian 
chests may be used in halls, living rooms or 
libraries; desks of the John Hancock variety 


HOME FURNISHING 


are always in good taste, and for a girl’s or 
guest room, a smaller desk with gate legs and 
drop leaf, is a pretty style. The restricted 
space in bungalows and apartments have de¬ 
veloped the need for the drop leaf tables, side¬ 
boards and serving tables. Gate leg tables are 
found everywhere, and are both artistic and 
useful. Beds with low posts and little or no 
footboard give roominess to the small bed¬ 
chamber. A wing chair of generous line and 
proportion is a worth while possession to own, 
and will lend a room that air of comfort so 
desirable. 


132 


XIV 


COVERINGS EOR THE FLOOR 

The products for the covering of floors 
have never before been so interesting and 
varied. We have not had the creative force 
of a William Morris to direct our national 
accomplishments in this line, but we are keenly 
appreciative of the good things that exist in 
our own country, and ready to give cordial 
welcome to what other nations bring us. How 
to use so rich a variety is a study that appeals 
to everyone who takes up house furnishing 
from a serious point of view. 

During the past thirty years a considerable 
change has been effected in America in the 
treatment and fitting of floors. This seems 
a short period in which to reckon, when the 
history of floor coverings dates from before 
the Christian era, even to the ancient days 
of Egyptian splendour. Prior to that time 


133 


HOME FURNISHING 


primitive ages had adopted the skins of wild 
beasts to make a comfortable foothold in their 
habitations. The Babylonians were renowned 
for their weaving of rugs and the ornamenta¬ 
tion they introduced. From them the art 
was passed on to the Persians and the peoples 
of India, and so through Asia and Eastern 
Europe and, after the Renaissance, into France 
and England. 

To the Oriental, rug weaving has a mean¬ 
ing much deeper than that of a mere mercan¬ 
tile pursuit. It is intertwined with customs, 
traditions, legendary lore and mythology. In 
India some of the designs are handed down 
through generations of weavers. In Persia 
and Turkey the sacramental character of the 
rug is prominent, as it was originally made 
for places of worship or in honour of the visits 
of distinguished persons. Certain shapes and 
patterns are, even at the present day, reserved 
for use at prayer. They may be of any variety 
of weave or any combination of colour, but 
the design must show an arch, to represent 


*34 


COVERINGS FOR THE FLOOR 


the door of a mosque. Sometimes three me¬ 
dallions are added, one for the head of the 
worshipper, and one at each side for his hands. 

Sometimes the kelim rug, when woven by 
a Turkish girl to show her future husband 
her ability in the national occupation, has 
a romantic association. Large rugs often em¬ 
ploy an entire family, and very fine examples 
may cover many years of industry. The 
amount of work put into a single yard of fine 
weaving (notably the Persian) may be esti¬ 
mated by the number of stitches—a matter, 
perhaps, of from two to three hundred thousand. 

The vegetable dyes used in Persia have 
made the products of that country famous 
for their rich gloss and strong wear. So care¬ 
fully are these qualities guarded that an effort 
to substitute mineral dyes was forbidden by 
imperial edict. 

The first really popular knowledge that 
our country had of the value of Oriental rugs 
was gained at the Centennial Exhibition of 
1876. The leaven has been diffused and 


135 


HOME FURNISHING 


has increased, until a widespread interest in 
the history and manufacture of these rugs 
has resulted, with an eager, intelligent desire 
for their ownership. 

In selecting an Eastern rug the general 
classification should be kept in mind, with 
the appropriate use for each different make. 
Its possession being for lifelong service, an 
understanding of its best use and a knowl¬ 
edge of its origin should naturally follow. 
While it is impossible to memorise the bewilder¬ 
ing list of Oriental names, many of which 
are coined by irresponsible dealers, a general 
classification is not difficult to keep in mind, 
under which the genuine makes are numbered. 
Outside of the rugs made in India, there are 
four important groups in the Orient: First, 
the Caucasian; second, Turkish; third, Per¬ 
sian; fourth, Turkoman. 

In the first division the best known varieties 
are the Daghestan, Kabistan, Karabagh, Shir- 
van, Kazak, Guendjie and Soumak. In the 
second, the Anatolian, Ghiordes, Koula, Ou- 

136 


COVERINGS FOR THE FLOOR 


shak, Ladik, Melas, and Sparta. In the 
third, Tabreez, Senna, Khurdistan, Kirman- 
shah, Sarakh, Saruch, Serabend, Kirman, Shir¬ 
az, Khorassan and Ferraghan. In the last, 
Bokhara, Afghan, Beloochistan and Khiva. 

Besides the contribution to floor cover¬ 
ings from Eastern nations, France, Germany 
and Great Britain have high-class products 
of their own. The Aubusson rug, which 
was first made in 1669, in a town in France, 
has retained its hold for certain schemes of 
furnishing and decoration; it has a close 
likeness to a woollen tapestry, and is without 
nap and made with a needle. The Savonnerie 
is another manufacture of the French, but it 
is hand-tufted very close, with a deep, vel¬ 
vety nap. The Berlin hand-made rug and 
the Scotch chenille are modem styles that 
are made in special colourings and sizes upon 
order. 

America may also take a distinctive position 
among rug weavers, from the primitive work 
of the Indians in the West. The Navajo 


137 


HOME FURNISHING 


race produces the best examples of rugs, and, 
it is said, learned it from the Pueblos. Per¬ 
haps the Navajos’ prominence is due to the 
fact that their settlements are the best adapted 
to the raising and grazing of extensive flocks of 
sheep and goats, from which the wool is obtained. 

The simplicity of their craft is shown by 
their spindle, which is a slender stick thrust 
through the centre of a round disk. With 
this they work at their loom of two horizontal 
poles, beginning at the bottom and working 
upwards. Their native dyes of vegetable mat¬ 
ter are supplemented by the ravellings of a 
red bayeta cloth. Sometimes the coloured 
Germantown yarn is used, but with a loss of 
archaic style. 

The blaze of colour with which the Indians 
adorn themselves appears also in their rugs, 
as their primary use was a blanket or dress. 
The patterns vary from simple parallel lines 
to complex figures that picture, as do those of 
the Oriental weaver, the legends and mythology 
of their tribes. 


138 


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NAVAJO METHOD OF WEAVING AN EASTERN PRAYER RUG 



































































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COVERINGS FOR THE FLOOR 


The rag weaving of our early settlers has 
been revived in an artistic form by using strips 
of cloth in colours that amalgamate pleasantly, 
instead of the hit-or-miss colouring of odds 
and ends of stuff. 

The Japanese jute and cotton rugs meet 
a temporary need when no very lasting quality 
is required. The Indian dhurrie rugs resemble 
the Navajo in design and in brilliancy of 
colour, but their colour effect is too highly 
keyed for city homes. This make is a favourite 
on yachts and in camp interiors. 

A Scotch ingrain rug that may be used 
on either side is an excellent purchase for 
the home of moderate cost. Few colours 
are introduced and some are made with plain 
centres and a two-toned border, but the dyes 
are lasting and the wearing quality assured. 

The designs in the Wilton rugs are copied 
from the Oriental, and in price and appearance 
these may be depended upon to give satisfaction. 
Mohair rugs of one colour give a pretty touch 
of colour to a room where the other floor cover- 


139 


HOME FURNISHING 


ings are very much mixed, and help to sustain 
a quiet decoration. Small white goatskin rugs 
may be sewed together for a bedside rug or 
for a child’s room. A black or brown fur rug 
may be laid in front of a hearth or in a room 
with deep-coloured floor coverings. 

When a floor is not shaped to carry a regu¬ 
lar-sized rug, a carpet may be made up as a 
rug and shaped to fit the room. A border 
may be sewed around the edges, or the plain 
breadths of carpet made up without a border. 
Some of the double or triple-width carpets 
may be used as rugs by having the ends bound 
with braid or finished with a buttonhole stitch. 

A consideration of rugs for the house brings 
up the question of floors. Hard wood is now 
almost universally provided in the building 
of a new house; but where an old floor is im¬ 
possible to use, the wood carpet may be adopted. 
This was originally made in France, and it 
can be procured in two different thicknesses, 
in squares or diagonal pieces that are nailed 
down over the old floors, the brads then being 


140 


COVERINGS FOR THE FLOOR 


puttied over to match the colour of the wood. 
Wide borders of various coloured woods, or sim¬ 
ply straight lines, of a darker colour than that 
of the body of the room, are used to finish the 
edge of the wood carpets. 

When hard wood cannot be had for the 
floors, two methods are still open for cover¬ 
ing them with carpets; namely, to select the 
carpet as a background, or to choose it from 
a decorative standpoint. In the first instance 
a rich appearance is secured by the velvet 
carpet in wide widths without seams. Its sub¬ 
stitute in cheaper goods is of woollen or cotton 
fillings, or a plain Chinese or Japanese matting. 

Carpets that show a decided pattern should 
be carefully chosen to bring them into rela¬ 
tion with the other furnishings. Their selection 
is an important point, as their expense is a con¬ 
siderable part of the entire outlay for the room. 

Printed oilcloths for the kitchen stand so 
little wear that inlaid linoleum or rubber 
tiling, although expensive, will repay by a con¬ 
tinuous, satisfactory endurance. 

141 


HOME FURNISHING 


Battleship linoleum is of durable quality, and 
once down there is no further bother with the 
floor. In the remodeling of old houses, where 
the floors are in poor condition, this linoleum 
is specially valuable. 

But this chapter must not be closed without 
a reference to the old but newly appreciated 
hook rugs that are now interesting the Amer¬ 
ican public. Several large auction sales have 
been held of collections gathered in New Eng¬ 
land, and they reveal an unsuspected wealth 
of the creative ability of our grandmothers. 
The rag carpets, woven on hand looms in every 
country village, have been copied by commercial 
firms, but the hook rug is a piece of hand work 
and therefore always different and always indi¬ 
vidual. Many of the materials are hand-woven 
and hand-dyed. As no patterns have ever been 
made for these rugs, they are entirely the prod¬ 
uct of the farmers wife, living perhaps in some 
remote district. In lieu of books of designs she 
took the natural objects surrounding her—leaves, 
twigs, the inevitable roses, cats, dogs, horses and 

142 


COVERINGS FOR THE FLOOR 


sometimes chickens. But the better patterns 
are the conventional ones, and many suggest 
the Oriental, with borders of squares and 
triangles. 

The foundation of the rug is burlap, on 
which the design is outlined. It is then stretched 
and tacked on a small light frame of wood, 
leaving a wide margin to be turned under after 
finishing, and sewed flat. The rags are cut in 
strips about a half inch wide and pulled through 
the burlap by means of a hook, leaving the loop 
on the right side. It may be snipped or left 
uncut. The durability of the rug depends on 
the closeness of the hooking. The hook is like 
a coarse crochet hook, and may be bought at 
any department store. Either woolen or cotton 
goods may be used. 

If, when the loop is drawn through the bur¬ 
lap, it is left rather long, the effect is of a high 
pile rug. While these rugs have always been 
made in the country districts, it is only lately 
that they have been sold in the shops, where 
they command a good price. The hook rug 
143 


HOME FURNISHING 


is not suited to every room. It is most at home 
with Colonial furniture; in a bed room with a 
four-poster and candlewick spread, or a living 
room with maple furniture. 


144 


XV 


HANGINGS FOR THE WALLS 

Amateur attempts at selecting wall papers 
are usually disappointing. Taste and experi¬ 
ence are imperative in this department of 
home furnishing and, in addition, the capacity 
to imagine effects before they are created. 

There is but a slight historical thread to 
connect the rise and progress of wall cover¬ 
ings. Tapestry was employed in the Middle 
Ages, in castles and residences of the nobility, 
not only as a protection against the cold and 
dampness of the walls, but for decorative 
purposes. Wall paper began to be used 
in Europe, as a substitute for tapestry, about 
the middle of the sixteenth century. Clarence 
Cook ascribes its origin to the Dutch trade 
with China and Japan, and its earliest print¬ 
ing to Spain and Holland. 

Modem wall decoration began with the 


145 


HOME FURNISHING 


Victorian era, and it was marked by a tre¬ 
mendous infusion of artistic power when 
William Morris, poet and designer, put his 
energies into the decoration of the home. A 
permanent place has been accorded the radical 
innovations made by him in the designing of 
wall papers. His patterns were drawn on a 
large scale, with a close repetition of the de¬ 
sign, which was presented in clear, bold 
lines. 

At the present time there is such close com¬ 
petition in England, France and Germany 
in the manufacture of wall paper that a dis¬ 
tinctive line may not be drawn around any 
nation as producing the best. American wall 
papers are rich in colour, original in treat¬ 
ment and beautiful in design; and the same 
praise may be applied to the other countries 
named in this connection. The rapid progress 
made in this line of home decoration cannot 
be expressed by one year’s examples. We 
must study from time to time at the Exposi¬ 
tions the progressive achievements. 

146 


HANGINGS FOR THE WALLS 


Wall papers of a high class are printed by 
hand, each colour necessitating a separate print¬ 
ing that must be dried before a second colour 
is used. Machine-printed papers may em¬ 
ploy twelve or more colours during the process 
of production. A glance at the margin of 
an untrimmed roll of paper will show the 
number of colours by a series of dots. The 
cheapness of the domestic wall papers is owing 
to the pressure of competition. Pretty designs 
exist among the low-priced papers with almost 
the same frequency that they are found in the 
higher-priced varieties, but naturally a cheaper 
quality in the materials cannot give the same 
amount of wear as those of greater cost. Dis¬ 
crimination in the selection makes the tem¬ 
porary result good or bad whatever price is 
paid. 

Modern walls have as specific needs of their 
own as did those of any other period. Their 
demands are met by a superabundant supply, 
typical of many of our manufacturing indus¬ 
tries. As this embarrassment of riches covers 


147 


HOME FURNISHING 


nearly every phase of wall coverings, one must 
be prepared, when making a choice, with a 
definitely formed idea of the requirements of 
the room to be treated—a diagnosis, as it were, 
of its several parts, to which the wall hanging 
is to bring its completing touch: 

(1) The purpose or use of the room. 

(2) The colour and kind of woodwork. 

(3) The amount of light in the room. 

(4) The colour that harmonises best with 
the floor coverings and furniture. 

(5) The wall colours of adjacent rooms. 

If the paper hanger is not available for esti¬ 
mating the amount of paper the walls carry, 
it is not difficult to measure personally the 
height, length and width of the room; to note, 
also, the number of doors and windows and if 
there is a mantel. From these items the proper 
quantity of paper can be gauged by the sales¬ 
man at the store. 

Yet with every thoughtful precaution, the 
quantity of novelties shown to the buyer may 
result in the purchase of just the wrong thing, 
148 


HANGINGS FOR THE WALLS 


so a wise economy is to buy a roll of one or 
two papers that appear to suit the conditions 
the best and test them at home by natural 
and artificial light in the rooms which they 
are intended to decorate. By matching two 
strips of the paper the design will be brought 
out more satisfactorily than when one small 
sample is brought into the house. 

Styles change more often in wall papers than 
in any other furnishings for the house. The 
manufactures of one year can rarely be found 
twelve months after. Prevailing modes for the 
walls, therefore, are impossible to follow very 
closely; in fact, this is not necessary if the aim 
is to have something artistic and not something 
merely fashionable. 

If the walls of a room are destined to hold 
beautiful paintings, or the patterns elsewhere 
in the room make a plain wall desirable, the 
ingrain and pulp tints can be drawn upon. 
Plain papers are always procurable, and they 
merit a careful hanging to show their good 
effect. 


149 


HOME FURNISHING 


Burlap, buckram and crash are sold by the 
yard and make a more expensive plain wall 
covering than a paper, but in some places and 
for certain conditions the extra outlay is worth 
while. For instance, in a hall in which there 
is much passing or carrying of furniture a paper 
will need frequent renewal where a burlap 
would show more endurance. As some of 
the burlaps fade when exposed to the sun, a 
preparation has been put upon the market for 
renewing the colour. 

Next to the plain effect reached by the papers 
mentioned there are handsome English and 
German papers printed in two tones that dress 
the wall unobtrusively and set off antique 
furniture and tapestry. The choice of colour 
in the two-tones may be a repetition of some 
article already in the room—fireplace tiling, 
door hanging, window draperies, or some pre¬ 
dominating note in the floor coverings. 

Tapestry papers, with mixtures of greens and 
blues, have an important mission in connect¬ 
ing woodwork and furniture of alien colours. 


150 


HANGINGS FOR THE WALLS 


Usually dark in colouring and heavily patterned, 
these papers look their best when associated 
with dark, rich woodwork. 

Silk-finished papers are now made in re¬ 
strained designs in two tones of one colour, 
two colours exquisitely blended, or a colour 
printed over in cream-white. When silk, velvet, 
damask, jute, wool tapestries, linen and other 
textile fabrics are hung on the walls of hand¬ 
somely appointed rooms they are sewed to¬ 
gether in lengths and tacked to a light moulding 
that is fitted against the wall. Often a lining 
of canton flannel is added. 

In the treatment of ceilings and borders 
there is often great lack of taste and judgment. 
The English plan of leaving the ceiling, un¬ 
papered, in a light cream tone, is a good 
rule to follow, making exceptions only when 
some special circumstance calls for them. 
A high ceiling may receive the plaster relief 
work that is made on both sides of the Atlantic, 
when the spaces are too plain and bare to be 
left undecorated. * 


HOME FURNISHING 


When a ceiling is not in order for plain tinting 
a cream-white or buff-white paper may be put 
on without lapping the seams and the effect 
will be almost equal to a tint. A lining linen 
or burlap may be pasted on a ceiling that is 
not perfectly smooth and then treated to a coat 
of kalsomine. 

A coved ceiling requires the ceiling tint or 
paper to be brought down over the curve to a 
point where a wooden picture moulding may 
be attached in an even line entirely around the 
room. 

A sloping or uneven ceiling makes a picture 
moulding impracticable. Away to treat a room 
of this kind that is both novel and pretty, is 
to cover the ceiling and side walls with one 
paper, using no border, frieze, ceiling tint or 
picture moulding. A paper for such use must 
be light in tone and with an all-over design. 

The room with a low ceiling should never 
be given a border at the cornice. The paper 
must be carried from the floor until it joins 
the ceiling, and a narrow picture moulding used 


152 


HANGINGS FOR THE WALLS 


as a finish. Low ceilings generally character¬ 
ise small rooms, and these, if properly treated, 
may be made exceedingly cosy with the right 
papers upon the walls. Here is the opportu¬ 
nity for striped papers to be used to advantage, 
especially in two tones or with little con¬ 
trast in colour, or, as in bedroom papers, stripes 
printed over with flowers. 

Borders for wall papers are found in many 
styles. The domestic ingrains have some showy 
styles, too brilliant in colour to be satisfactory 
for quiet effects. The English manufacturers 
present, for the same kind of paper, some 
delightful floral and poster effects that, in the 
right situation, give character to the plain wall. 

A room with a ceiling over nine feet may 
need a border, yet one may not be found among 
the regular line. In this event a patterned 
paper, that accords with the side wall, may be 
cut into strips to make a border of the desired 
width. 

Sanitary printed papers find more than one 
place in the home—in the nursery, the bath- 


153 


HOME FURNISHING 


room, the housemaids’ rooms, pantries and 
passageways—wherever a surface may need 
at times to be sponged off. A light weight oil¬ 
cloth, in glazed and dull finishes, with floral 
or geometrical patterns, may be pasted on 
kitchen walls, and a new kind of burlap that 
has washable qualities is adapted to vestibule 
use. 

Picture mouldings are sold in strips of twelve 
feet at the wall paper stores in white enamel, 
oak, cherry and mahogany finishes. If the in¬ 
troduction of a dark wood to match the wood¬ 
work (the usual rule in selecting a moulding) 
makes too decided a line against a light paper, 
an unfinished wood may be put up and tinted 
like the paper. 


154 


XVI 

CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 

Windows, although they seem to perform 
a subordinate part in the furnishing of a room, 
are, in fact, most important and exacting. 
Many of the practical difficulties of window 
furnishing are occasioned by some mistake 
in size, style or construction; the artistic prob¬ 
lem generally turns upon the question of colour. 
The window shade is, naturally, the primary 
consideration. Of what material shall it be? 
What is the best colour? Where shall it be 
attached to the casement? 

The shading of the home should not be at¬ 
tempted in too economical a spirit. Like hair 
mattresses, wire nettings and other movable 
but permanent furnishings, window shades 
that are well-made and of good material will 
give a very lasting satisfaction. If the casing 
of the window is deep enough to allow the fix- 


155 


HOME FURNISHING 


ture to be set within the frame, it is better 
to do this than to affix it to the outer edge, 
which should be left free for the curtains and 
their brackets. 

There are many new mechanical devices 
that make the practical part of window treat¬ 
ment much easier in these days than it was a 
few years ago. Wooden rollers with the shades 
tacked upon them are still in existence, but a 
newer fashion is a tin roller that allows the 
material to be adjusted without tacks. Some¬ 
times a shade becomes worn at the bottom, and 
with the tin roller it may be slipped on in a re¬ 
verse position, first hemming it at the top end. 
There are extension rollers also that make a 
change of windows possible without buying new 
rollers. 

The old-fashioned method of rolling a shade 
with a side cord is remembered by this genera¬ 
tion with feelings of gratitude for the improve¬ 
ments that have made it obsolete. Side hems 
give strength to a window shade, but they are 
not always to be adopted, as they increase the 

156 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


bulk of the material when it winds around the 
roller. 

The inferior qualities of Holland are likely 
to fade quickly, but certain makes are warranted 
to hold their colour. In some Southern homes 
a glazed chintz is bought by the yard and made 
up into window shades. The flowered patterns 
on a white ground make an attractive decora¬ 
tion with white paint and summer furniture. 

The colour of the window shades should be 
thought of in connection with the outside paint 
of the house and the interior woodwork—two 
requirements that often clash. Sometimes the 
disagreement is so great that two pairs of shades 
are the only way out; or, a double-sided shade 
painted in opaque colours may answer the 
same purpose. When there are no shutters 
to a house two sets of shades, a light and a dark 
set, are necessary. The light shade is hung 
towards the street and the dark-coloured one 
towards the interior of the room. 

Houses on the colonial order that are finished 
throughout with white-painted woodwork, and 
157 


HOME FURNISHING 


with the exterior painted lemon-colour, with 
green blinds and white trimmings, always look 
best with white shades. With dark trimmings 
on the exterior a linen colour is safe to use. 
The right results often take study and experi¬ 
ment and perhaps a radical change in some 
one feature already in existence. 

Ardent followers of hygiene have declared 
against the use of window draperies, but they 
afford too much aesthetic enjoyment to be dis¬ 
carded in the majority of homes. The cur¬ 
tainless room has a barren, uninviting aspect 
that disappears as soon as the windows are 
attended to. On the other hand, a sensible 
treatment may not be understood and a win¬ 
dow may be completely blocked up with dra¬ 
peries and fixtures so that its original intention 
of giving light and air is defeated. 

In city houses a thin lace or net is essential 
at the windows as a screen during daylight 
hours. This is called a sash curtain, and is 
hung close to the glass from the inside of the 
casing at the top to the sill. It is little more 

158 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


than the width of the glass and hangs in very 
scant folds. Or, a panel of lace is used with 
an ornament sewed in the centre and surrounded 
with insertion. In narrow windows one panel 
is used. Very wide sashes divided by a per¬ 
pendicular strip of wood in the middle may 
have two panels. One sometimes sees a sash 
curtain caught back at the sides of the case¬ 
ment and not fulfilling the office for which it 
was intended. 

In country and suburban homes the dressing 
of the windows does not exact the exterior 
uniformity of appearance required by the city 
residence, and in the former the inner effect 
alone may be considered. 

In addition to the sash curtains of the city 
dwelling a second pair made of lace is some¬ 
times added. The older way of plaiting the 
fullness at the top and fastening it to rings on 
a large pole has been superseded by a simpler 
fashion of running a one-inch brass rod through 
a loose hem at the top without a heading. 
With new curtains the extra length may be 


159 


HOME FURNISHING 


turned over at the top for twelve inches to 
allow for shrinking when the curtains are 
cleaned the first time. 

When light is lacking in the room the long 
lace curtains may be caught back at the sides 
with cotton or silk loops that are made for the 
purpose. Hanging the curtains straight to 
the floor gives dignity to the lines of a room and 
softens an exposure that may be too bright and 
glaring. When hung in this manner one pair 
of curtains at a window act as a screen and 
also as a decoration. 

If the vestibule door appears inline with the 
parlour windows it is wise to treat it with a panel 
made up in lace that corresponds with the sash 
or inner draperies of the front room. A thin 
silk curtain may then be hung over the lace 
to draw at night, choosing a colour that accords 
with the woodwork. 

The least expensive lace curtain is one of 
plain bobbinet which may be bought by the 
yard and finished with an edge or insertion. 
White bobbinet may be selected to hang against 

160 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


white woodwork, and ecru-coloured net for 
dark woodwork. Fish nets in cream, white 
or brown may be bought by the yard and hung 
without a finish at the sides and bottom. These 
are more suited to the unconventional treat¬ 
ment of the den, living room or sitting room 
than the formal rooms of the home. 

When lace curtains are bought by the pair any 
amount of money may be expended on the 
handwork and materials. The refinement of 
a room, however, is not increased by heavy 
ornamentation of a thin fabric. 

Point Arabe lace has been a favourite for 
some years in high-class curtains, and its deep 
colour and cord effect suit the furnishings 
of handsome houses. The Marie Antoinette 
lace, in which a pattern is made with braid, 
is graceful and simple. Sometimes a mixture 
of the two styles is adopted. Cluny lace makes 
so durable and sensible a curtain that it has 
held its own through a series of changes in 
curtains. Brussels lace is the daintiest hang¬ 
ing for a drawing room and one of the oldest 


HOME FURNISHING 


varieties. Irish Point is disappearing and many 
novelties are coming into vogue. 

Lace curtains need not appear at all in the 
chambers, unless it is advisable to repeat the 
selection that is made for the first floor on the 
upper stories. White muslin in embroidered 
dots or patterns, or with the tambour edge, 
are the most practical curtains for bedrooms. 
Or, a fine white nainsook edged with lace or 
with a hemstitched edge may be used. These 
may be caught back one-third of the height 
of the casement with cotton loops and tassels. 
A three-quarter-inch brass rod may be put up 
across the top of the casement, and slipped 
through the muslin, which is hemmed at the 
top with an inch and a half heading. 

Another way of dressing a window is to make 
a ruffle twelve or fifteen inches wide, according 
to the length of the casement, and hang this 
across the top of the window. Underneath, 
two straight lengths may be hung, one at either 
side. A double brass rod is made for this pur¬ 
pose. The flounce is shirred on the front rod, 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


and the straight lengths are sewed to brass 
rings on the under rod to permit drawing across 
the glass. Such a treatment looks its best on 
a wide window. 

Over-curtains may be put up for the winter 
months for their comfortable exclusion of drafts 
and their additional contribution towards the 
furnishings. As these are most conspicuous 
by evening light the test of artificial lighting 
should not be forgotten in making a choice. 

The lack of artistic materials for draperies in 
the middle part of the nineteenth century was so 
acutely felt in England that in setting up a 
home at that period a writer says: “What a rum¬ 
mage there was for anything tolerable! Two or 
three friends of mine were in the same plight. 
On the whole, I remember that we had to fall 
back on turkey-red cotton and dark-blue serge.” 

In vivid contrast nowadays here in America 
is an unlimited assortment of beautiful goods 
for the home. The choice, and not the lack, 
is the problem with us, making taste and dis¬ 
cretion necessary factors for happy results. 

163 


HOME FURNISHING 


Among the three general departments in 
textile fabrics ( i.e . materials wrought in the 
loom) are three kinds. The first, the plain 
surface in which the warp and weft alternate 
equally; the second, in which a pattern is pro¬ 
duced by the warp and weft mingling in 
different proportions (as in all figured cloths 
or tapestries); third, plain fabrics which are 
enriched by the needle or printing, as em¬ 
broideries and printed stuffs. 

At the present day no department of house 
furnishing is so comprehensively supplied as 
that of loom-made materials. The splendid 
effects reached in the old times are perpetuated 
in reproductions; the historic designs of im¬ 
portant periods may still be secured for houses 
treated in those styles; and the strenuous de¬ 
sire of our own day for artistic expression, 
whether it be on a small or a large scale of ex¬ 
penditure, is abundantly met. 

In selecting material for over-curtains some 
unity of tone with the woodwork in which they 
are framed and the walls against which they 

164 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


hang may be sought for. A double-faced ma- 
terial does not need a lining, but if a lining is 
used one of cream-white, linen colour or a 
neutral shade will stand the light better than a 
colour. Lining silks and sateens for curtains 
are found in the fifty-inch width. 

A figured material will not need trimming, 
but a plain one is often given a crisp style by 
the addition of a tapestry or antique braid. 

If the expense that is often put into loopings 
and festoons, which are unnecessary for an 
over-curtain, were put into first-class mechan¬ 
ical contrivances for hanging and adjusting— 
pulley cords, rings, cords and tassels—with plain, 
solid hardware, a better end would be attained. 

The subject of doorways is second in interest 
to that of the windows. In tracing the history 
of doors we find that in the Italian palaces of 
the fifteenth century not only the door itself 
received a decorative treatment, but also the 
space above, called the “over-door.” At first 
this wall space was painted; later it was covered 

165 


HOME FURNISHING 


with a panel of wood carving, stucco or marble 
work. At a still later period the wall decora¬ 
tion was omitted, and in its place a pediment 
was supported on carved brackets over the 
doorway. 

This form of decorative over-doors appeared 
also in France and England, and the American 
colonists of the wealthier class, in perpetuating 
in their new homes the interior effects of the 
old, adopted the pediment over the door. 

Modern doorway treatment in houses of 
moderate cost does not always make use of the 
opportunities that are available for rendering 
this portion of the room attractive, and the ap¬ 
pearance of an apartment is often seriously 
marred by an imperfect understanding of the 
importance of this feature. The position of 
the door must be such as to give balance to 
the other parts of the room, and it is also essen¬ 
tial for practical reasons that the doorway 
should not cut into wall spaces needed for the 
larger pieces of furniture—bedsteads, side¬ 
boards, sofas and pianos. 

166 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


An error that is fortunately not often com¬ 
mitted is the hanging of a door so that it opens 
outward instead of into the room; but one 
frequently finds a door hung so that it does not 
shield the major part of the room from obser¬ 
vation. A device for overcoming this defect is 
a swinging crane that supports a rod and curtain. 

The proportions and design of a doorway 
are inseparably associated in making an artis¬ 
tic ensemble. If the architectural rule of making 
the height of the doorway not less than twice 
the width is unobserved, the effect will be too 
low and broad. The lines of the room must 
also accord with those of the doors, or the latter 
will appear too large or too insignificant. The 
framing of the door and its panelling should 
be unified in design, simple, clear-cut and ex¬ 
pressive. 

A door that has objectionable details may 
be altered if it is not possible to make a com¬ 
plete change. The framing, being stationary, 
may have to be retained, but the door itself 
may have new or a different panel work. 

167 


HOME FURNISHING 


In rented houses, where ilo alteration is per¬ 
mitted, there is still an opportunity for improve¬ 
ment in making some arrangement over the 
door that will carry the attention from the im¬ 
perfections below to something attractive above. 
In effect, the old Italian over-door treatment 
may be modified to suit the modern home, 
perhaps by the introduction of a narrow shelf 
on which to place some pieces of pottery or 
brass pieces. In arranging a shelf of this char¬ 
acter above the eye-line of a person standing 
in the room, the choice may be given to plates 
and vases that are decisive in outline and con¬ 
vincing in colour. 

A doorway that is permanently closed pre¬ 
sents an uninteresting surface, which, however, 
may be used as a background for a picture or 
to hold a mirror. Or, some narrow shelves 
may be fitted within the casing and filled with 
books or pottery. In summer cottages an un¬ 
used, recessed doorway is of practical value 
as a wardrobe when it is fitted with hooks for 
dresses, a low shelf for shoes, and a high shelf 
168 


CURTAINS AND PORTIERES 


for hats. A curtain will be needed to hang as 
a protection from the dust. 

In a doorway where a portiere is used in¬ 
stead of the swinging or sliding door, the cur¬ 
tain pole may be placed twelve inches or more 
below the upper frame and a shelf fastened 
above the pole to hold jars and vases. 

The portiere or door curtain was first brought 
into use to exclude drafts. In city houses where 
contracted spaces have made openings in the 
wall take the place of the swinging door the 
portiere is essentially useful. A portiere should 
not be put up without a definite object of util¬ 
ity, but, like everything else in the house, it 
may be chosen to do its share towards beauti¬ 
fying the home. The colours of the material 
should not contrast too sharply with the walls 
or the woodwork, nor should the pattern con¬ 
flict with that of the wall paper. 

In making up a portiere of double-faced 
goods the hems may be turned towards the 
room where they will show the least. Two 
single-faced goods that are sewed together need 

169 


HOME FURNISHING 

a cord or binding to cover the edges. If the 
materials are thick no interlining of canton 
flannel is needed. A hem is basted at the 
bottom of each piece of goods and the tops and 
sides are sewed together and the curtain hung 
to determine the length. The material should 
just escape touching the floor. When the cur¬ 
tain has been given a few days or a week to 
adjust itself, the two hems at the bottom may 
be stitched together. The hem at the top of 
the curtain may have a ring sewed every four 
inches instead of plaiting the material. 

The supply of double-faced goods is not 
over-large, but many additions have been made 
during the past few years in mercerised cottons, 
velours, reps, jutes and silk tapestries. In 
single-faced goods the variety is wide in price, 
colour, texture and design. 

A portiere, to do its perfect duty of utility and 
decoration, requires to be hung only in straight 
lengths without loops or festoons, but with trav¬ 
erse rings and pulley cords to prevent its being 
dragged out of shape by careless handling. 


170 


XVII 


BEDS AND BEDDING 

The selection of beds and the details of their 
equipment are the test of the competent home 
maker. A provision for comfort in sleeping 
rooms would, perhaps, receive more attention 
if we realised that fully one-third of a life-time 
is spent there. In the course of three-score 
years fully twenty, even if with only moderate 
sleeping, are passed in bed. 

In the earliest history of beds, among the 
people of the East, a mattress was the only 
article used. This was spread out on the ground 
or floor when repose was sought, and afterward 
folded up and laid away. The Greeks at an 
early period had four-post bedsteads, and added 
to them afterward a head and foot board. 
The Romans exceeded the Greeks in luxury 
and splendour, making their beds of state with 
tortoise-shell and ivory, with gold and silver legs. 

171 


HOME FURNISHING 


The Britons, when conquered by Caesar, 
slept on skins, after the manner of the North 
American Indians, using later sacks of straw 
as mattresses. The house of the ancient Eng¬ 
lish gentleman was not, as a general thing, 
provided with bedrooms. A chamber or shed 
was built against the wall that enclosed the 
mansion and its dependencies, and in this little 
cell the lord and his lady slept. The young 
men of the house slept on tables and benches 
in the great hall, with woolen coverlids and 
blankets for warmth, and servants and at¬ 
tendants slept on the floor. Later, in the time 
of the Tudors, the four-post bedstead, an im¬ 
mense piece of furniture having a canopy sup¬ 
ported by tall posts, one at each corner, be¬ 
came the fashionable sleeping couch. 

The four-post bedstead came over to America 
with the early settlers and was in favour till 
the early nineteenth century, when a rather 
low eurved head and footboard—sometimes 
designated as the sleigh bed—appeared. Then 
followed a period when clumsy workmanship, 


172 


BEDS AND BEDDING 


tall headboards, ornate carving and heavy 
ornamentation made our bedsteads anything 
but desirable for the chamber. 

In the reaction against this excessive bed 
decoration, the open bed almost went out of 
existence and folding beds of every description 
were transformed from bureaus, bookcases, 
wardrobes, washstands, writing desks and sofas. 
A further change brought the metal bed into 
general esteem, and its simple lines, sanitary 
surface and adaptability to all kinds of furni¬ 
ture and almost any colour scheme have kept 
up its popularity. 

The iron bed is usually enamelled in white 
paint, but any colour may be applied that 
is most fitting. Black-painted beds with 
brass trimmings are sometimes seen, but the 
effect is not pleasing. The brass knobs that 
are attached to the posts of the white iron bed 
often become loosened with frequent handling 
and the finish soon wears off. That these 
knobs are not essential to a good construction 
is shown by a new style of bed with rounded 


173 


HOME FURNISHING 


head and foot. This shape is also made in the 
brass. 

The ordinary finish for a brass bed is a 
lacquer that makes polishing unnecessary. 
When the lacquer is worn off the bed may be 
sent to the manufactory for a fresh coating. 
A dull brass finish can be given a brass bed 
at a slight increase of expense if it is desirable 
to match the hardware in the room—chande¬ 
liers or gas or electric brackets, door knobs, 
andirons and fire-pieces. 

Although metal beds are so much in demand, 
wooden ones are still in evidence. The head 
and foot boards are now plain almost to sever¬ 
ity, often following the style of other pieces 
of mission work that find their way to the bed¬ 
room. Mahogany beds are reproduced from 
colonial models, with the tester and posts 
ready for draping, or with slender columns 
and low foot boards. Birch, maple, French 
walnut, oak, ash and pine, enamelled white 
or covered with a coloured paint, are employed 
in making bedsteads to match the bureau, 


174 


BEDS AND BEDDING 


washstand, night table, chiffonier and chairs 
of the modern bedroom. 

In chambers occupied by two persons it is 
customary to provide two single beds in place 
of one of double size, and special designs for 
these “twin beds” are manufactured. 

The comparatively large outlay for the springs 
and mattress of a bed is justified by their long 
wear and large measure of comfort. Spiral 
springs are acknowledged to be the most 
resilient, but well-made woven wire springs 
are sometimes preferred. Feather mattresses 
are no longer in use as bedding. The regu¬ 
lar fulL-size hair mattress is four feet six inches 
by six feet four inches, and five inches thick. 
Thirty-five pounds of hair are needed to fill 
this size. A mattress for a full-sized bed 
wears better and is easier to handle if it is 
made in two pieces. One part should be the 
width of the bed square, the other the remain¬ 
ing length. 

Hair for the mattress is of two grades, pure 
South American and “drawings.” The first 


175 


HOME FURNISHING 


comes from the manes of wild southern horses, 
and after it reaches this country it is sorted 
from the tail hair or “drawings” and cleaned, 
cured and curled to acquire the necessary 
life and elasticity. Sometimes horse hair is 
combined with hog and goat hair and sold 
as mixed hair at cheaper rates than the pure 
article. Cotton and felt mattresses are made 
now and used in some households in preference 
to hair, and each variety has its adherents. 

An iron or brass bedstead becomes a more 
decorative feature in a chamber when it has 
a pretty canopy over the head. The old- 
fashioned close shrouding of the four-poster 
is too unhygienic for our enlightened days, 
but there is often a real need for a slight pro¬ 
tection from currents of air. Fixtures of iron 
and brass for holding a canopy are made sepa¬ 
rate from the bed to be added at any time. 

In a room with white-painted woodwork, 
flowered wall paper and white muslin cur¬ 
tains, a canopy of cretonne that matches the 
wall paper contributes a dainty touch. With 

176 



BEDROOM WITH BLACK ENAMEL FURNITURE DECORATED WITH SMALL POLYCHROME INSETS 
OF GREEN AND BLUE. BED DRAPERY OF ORANGE AND BLUE LINEN. GRAY CARPET 


























































































































































































































































BEDS AND BEDDING 


darker and heavier woodwork the canopy looks 
better of linen taffeta or printed linen. With 
the right selection of design one may almost 
literally sleep in a bed of roses. 

The outfit for a bed consists of a light¬ 
weight cotton pad to lay over the mattress, 
pillows, sheets and pillow cases, blankets, 
comfortable and spread. Sheets and blankets 
should be of generous length to tuck in well 
at the bottom of the bed and at the sides. 
The comfortable may be folded and laid on 
the outside. A down spread is the lightest 
and warmest, but cotton-filled spreads with 
a cover of silkoline or cheesecloth are ordinarily 
selected. 

The covering for a bed during the day¬ 
time can be made one of the effective touches 
to the sleeping room. It may be of cretonne 
to match the window hangings or the wall 
paper, or it may be of plain linen embroidered 
by hand. A delicate ornamentation may be 
put on with a stencil, using paints that when 
dried are capable of being laundered. Lace 


177 


HOME FURNISHING 


spreads with a lining of sateen or silk are still 
in existence and also the spreads of Marseilles 
and dimity. 

A bolster roll of pasteboard or light wood 
is covered with material to match the spread 
and laid at the head of the bed during the day 
hours while the night pillows are put away in 
the closet. If the pillows are left in place 
and laid flat a straight length of cretonne or 
linen, finished with an edge of white braid, 
may be laid over them—a sensible and prac¬ 
tical treatment. 

When a valance is attached to either wood 
or metal beds it assists in the dainty furnish¬ 
ing of the room. An opaque dimity in white 
or colours is to be found for valances, and 
it may be added also for the bed and pillow 
spreads, or cretonne, art ticking or linen taffeta 
may be used. The open head and foot of the 
metal bed may demand a slight protection from 
drafts, and the material selected for the spread 
may be tacked to a square of cotton batting and 
hung by tapes from the upper rod. 

178 



TWIN MAHOGANY TEDS 
AN ANTIQUE FOUR-POSTED BEDSTEAD 

































































. 























BEDS AND BEDDING 


When a room must serve the double pur¬ 
pose of a sleeping and sitting place, an open 
bed may have to be discarded for some kind 
of a divan. If space is small a box lounge 
with the lifting spring to facilitate moving 
the lid will hold the bed coverings during the 
day. A plain frame fitted with spiral springs 
and laid with a good mattress makes a com¬ 
fortable bed at night and a lounge at other 
times. The cheapest substitute for a lounge 
and bed in combination is the woven-wire 
cot with a mattress. To prevent the sagging 
of the middle part a row of spiral springs has 
recently been added. 


179 


XVIII 


FIREPLACES 

Fireplace history, from the earliest home 
life to the present time, shows many changes 
and improvements, the most radical being 
the inclosure of the chimney between the walls 
where formerly there was a simple opening 
in the roof. An example of this primitive 
style is still in existence in this country at 
Newburgh, N. Y., in the little old stone house 
which Washington made his headquarters in 
Revolutionary times. 

The fireplace opening in colonial days was 
of great size in the kitchen, but smaller in the 
other rooms. The fire on the hearth was 
the only means of warming the rooms, and 
the chimneys were always placed where they 
could accomplish the most service. We won¬ 
der now, with our comfortable furnaces to 
assist our open fires, how our forefathers en- 

180 


FIREPLACES 


dured the winter cold with a fireplace alone 
to give warmth. 

From the point of utility the open fireplace 
is of less importance in the winter months 
in houses heated by hot water, hot air or steam, 
than in the intermediate seasons when the 
furnace is not kept running regularly. Even 
in the Southern States a small wood fire ready 
laid for lighting is acceptable for occasional 
use during eight months of the year. A damp 
day in early spring, a sudden change of tem¬ 
perature in midsummer, or a windy evening 
in late autumn makes the presence of the fire 
on the hearth welcome. 

The open fire is desirable from more than 
the heating point of view. In a room, says 
an authority, twenty feet square by twelve 
feet high, heated by an open grate, the air 
would be removed four or five times an hour 
with a moderate draft from the chimney, and 
six or eight times with a blazing fire. 

Open fires are delightful in every part of 
the house; in the hall, where they give hos- 


HOME FURNISHING 


pitable greetings to the incomer, in the sitting 
room of the family, for the enjoyment of guests 
who are received in the parlour or reception 
room, and in the dining room, where a cheer¬ 
ful blaze adds to the pleasures of the table. 
Sleeping rooms that are provided with an 
open fire have an increased capacity for every¬ 
day comfort, and a helpful dependence for the 
exigencies of illness. In the nursery the fire 
on the hearth or in the grate may be called 
into requisition at any season of the year, and 
in luxurious homes even the bath room now 
has an open fire specified. 

A chimney place in every room in the house, 
however, is beyond the possession of the family 
of moderate income. Often it must be a 
single choice of situation, in hall, library, 
dining room or parlour. While each room 
makes its own claim the chief living room 
of the household should rule the decision. 

After the fireplace has been chosen for the 
living room its precise situation may be thought 
of. It should not be opposite a door, or where 


182 


FIREPLACES 


the fireside enjoyment will be interrupted 
by every one coming in or going out of the 
room; nor should it be flanked on either side 
by windows that will bring in currents of air. 
The best help in planning the situation of the 
fireplace is gained in careful study of other 
people’s attempts in the same line, and in 
avoiding their mistakes. 

The construction of the fireplace is an in¬ 
teresting part of house building, for each 
detail may then express the specific taste of 
the owner. In a rented house only the and¬ 
irons and fire-pieces may be a matter of choice. 
In the better class of houses—those designed 
to meet the particular requirements of the 
family—the architect employs his skill in 
making the fireplace the central point of interest 
in the room. In the building of other houses 
a certain sum is apportioned to the mantels 
and fireplaces and the owner makes a selec¬ 
tion from the manufacturer’s samples. These 
naturally follow the popular taste, and the 
present tendency of simple lines on the mission 
183 


HOME FURNISHING 


idea without carved or applied ornament, 
and the return to the “chaste simplicity” of 
colonial days have greatly influenced the 
ready-made mantel. Cumbersome wood-work 
cheap decoration, extrinsic brackets and ped¬ 
estals are less and less seen and better things 
are taking their place. 

The most successful mantel is the one de¬ 
signed especially for its position, fitting so 
harmoniously into the lines of the room that 
its presence is never obtrusively felt. It should 
be perfect as an ornament, for more attention 
centres upon it than on any other part of the 
room. For this reason also every detail of 
its equipment, permanent and movable, should 
be tasteful and attractive. Some of the most 
artistic mantels in modern house building 
are close copies of those found in colonial 
mansions. 

Mantels of slate are no longer used. Brick 
or stone work is sometimes employed in¬ 
stead of wood, especially when an expression 
of solidity greater than a combination of wood 

184 


FIREPLACES 


with stone or brick, is sought for. These 
all-stone or all-brick fireplaces are favourites 
in country homes or buildings of imposing 
dimensions, but in planning a colour scheme 
for such work the fact that brick or stone massed 
together declares its colour more insistently 
than when either is broken up with woodwork 
must be remembered. Light terra-cotta and 
buff-coloured bricks take their places more 
easily with other colours than the dark red ones. 

Bricks or tiles are adopted to face a fire¬ 
place with wood mantel and side supports. 
In Puritan days smooth blue-and-white tiles 
were brought over from Holland and placed 
around the opening, some with scriptural 
scenes painted on the surface. Tiles are 
made in innumerable designs and colours 
at the present time by high-class potteries, 
and an exclusive colouring and pattern will 
go a large way towards individualising a fire¬ 
place, and the colour of the tiles may enter 
into the scheme that is introduced in the room 
without being an item by itself. 

185 


HOME FURNISHING 


Fireplaces lined with brick have a more 
homelike, cosy appearance than those lined 
with iron, but the latter will stand more heat 
and harder wear than the former. The iron 
firebacks were so much a part of our early 
settlers’ furnishings that they were often brought 
over from England with the family crest or 
shield wrought into the sheet of iron, and, 
in the event of another move being made, 
the fireback was taken along with the other 
household gods. 

The hearth stones may be of tiling or bricks, 
the bricks giving better service than a smooth, 
glazed tile. 

The selection of wood for the mantel is 
sometimes a puzzle to the home builder. A 
good rule to observe is to bring mantel and 
woodwork into close relationship by choosing 
the same wood for each. With woodwork of 
cypress, pine or poplar in the natural finish 
oak is often adopted for the mantel. 

The necessary fittings of the open fireplace 
are the set of fire-pieces, which includes tongs, 



IIVING ROOM IN APARTMENT OF MRS. PAUL RIPLEY, 
SCULPTOR THE WAY THE REMADE FIREPLACE WITH 
FRANKLIN STOVE IS TREATED IS ADMIRABLE. OWING TO 
THE ABSENCE OF PICTURES. THE ATTENTION IS CEN¬ 
TRALIZED ON THE ITALIAN BAS-RELIEF ON THE MANTEL 





















































. 























































FIREPLACES 


shovel, poker and brush, and andirons or 
grate with a spark guard or fire screen. A 
brass fender helps to dress a fireplace that 
is used for burning wood and is really needed 
for a grate. The stationary grate has been 
abandoned in the newer houses for a basket 
or movable grate of iron. The simpler the 
design of this article the more it suits its utili¬ 
tarian duty. 

The old Franklin fireplace, made by the 
famous philosopher in 1742 and called by 
him “an open stove for the better warming 
of rooms,” was a combination of open fire 
and stove, needing only a vent in the chimney 
to carry the pipe. Some of these Franklins 
have survived until the present century, and 
the idea has been revived in a portable open 
stove that may be placed against or into a 
fireplace for giving an open fire. This con¬ 
trivance concentrates the heat more profitably 
than the real open fire. 

Andirons, or fire dogs, as they are some¬ 
times designated, are an interesting part of 
187 


HOME FURNISHING 


the fireplace equipment. From their prom¬ 
inent position they are the means of enhanc¬ 
ing or destroying its aesthetic appearance. 
Their movable quality makes the andirons 
appeal more strongly to the occupants of 
rented houses than the stationary fittings. 
The careful buyer of andirons seeks for sym¬ 
metrical shape and good material. In the 
two varieties of brass, the cast and the spun, 
the former, although the more expensive, will 
last longer. A lacquer finish on the bright 
brass will keep it for quite a period of time 
without any need of polishing. When the 
dull finish is preferred the lacquer is omitted. 
In homes where the time and attention cannot 
be given to keeping old brass in proper condi¬ 
tion, a choice of the wrought iron is more prac¬ 
tical. This may be plain in design, without 
fancy curves to catch the dust. The best 
iron is that wrought by hand, and is, of course, 
more costly than the cast iron. 

The open fire must have a supply of fuel 
close at hand, and if coal is used a brass or 
188 


FIREPLACES 


copper scuttle may be added to the fire-pieces; 
or, with a wood fire, a willow basket or a 
wooden chest may hold kindlings and logs. 
Each one of these details, small in itself, makes 
the fireplace satisfactory as a whole. 

The mantel is a consideration by itself. 
In the cheaper grades of houses the fireplace 
is often fictitious and there is no opportunity 
for keeping a fire on the hearth or in a grate; 
the mantel with its side supports and tiling, 
however, gives a semblance of the real thing. 
The mantel shelf is then the point towards 
which the home maker may give her best 
attention. 

The dressing of a mantel shelf is not an 
easy matter. Sometimes the effort of accom¬ 
plishment is so apparent that it destroys the 
good effect, or there is an accumulation of 
unmeaning ornaments that is bewildering to 
the eye. Study and observation are needed 
in this part of the home furnishing. Of course, 
the uses of a room enter largely into the choice 
of articles for a mantel. The dining room 

189 


HOME FURNISHING 


is quite different in character from the sitting 
or living room. The parlour, or reception 
room, should have few objects on its mantel, 
and those of a rather formal style—something 
that is beautiful in itself without personal 
association, and that will give enjoyment 
to the visitor. Any amount of expense may 
be put into such ornaments, the smaller and 
more refined workmanship often costing the 
largest outlay. 

A library mantel should receive a charac¬ 
teristic treatment. A bust of a favourite 
author in bronze or plaster may be given the 
place of honour in the centre, with some pieces 
of pottery or china of historical or artistic 
interest at either side. 

The mantel of the living room may express 
the changing interests of the household in 
an unconventional arrangement of pictures 
and bric-a-brac. In mantel decorations for 
the dining room those that have some inter¬ 
esting association will bring them in for a 
share of table talk. 



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FIREPLACES 


Bedroom mantels are a perplexing matter 
to treat when they are clumsily built. A 
white marble mantel that is ugly in shape and 
unpleasantly cold-looking may be improved 
by painting it to match the colour of the wood¬ 
work. A glaring, smooth-tiled mantel may 
also be changed for the better by applying 
the flat-finish brick paint. A very simple 
covering for a mantel may add to the dainti¬ 
ness of the furnishings. A wooden board is 
laid upon the shelf, first covered with a straight 
piece of cretonne and edged with a narrow 
ruffle. The mantel of a bedroom is the per¬ 
sonal property of the owner of the room, and 
naturally takes on a more significant expres¬ 
sion of individuality than in rooms used for 
other purposes. Here familiar and personal 
belongings may be displayed, and a glance 
at such a mantel will reveal the tastes of the 
occupant of the room more than an acquain¬ 
tance of months or years. 

The choice between hanging a mirror or 
picture over a mantel has sometimes to be 
191 


HOME FURNISHING 


made. For the former, the reception room 
or parlour seems the more appropriate posi¬ 
tion. The latter, if good in colour and com¬ 
position, impresses itself in a homelike way 
when admitted to the wall of the living or 
sitting room. 

Every room with a fireplace has possibilities 
for making a cosy inglenook. In expensive 
houses of the conventional type the fireplace, 
to be in keeping, must accord with the general 
use of both elegant materials and handsome 
designs, sometimes with a loss of the home 
element. Yet even in the more pretentious 
houses a skillful adjustment of furniture around 
the hearthstones will create an atmosphere 
of hospitality and cheer. 

“The old-time ingle,” says a British author, 
“had two main uses. The first was to pro¬ 
tect a wide, open fire from cross drafts. The 
second was to afford sheltered seats near the 
fire, where the aged and feeble could rest, 
and where extra warmth was insured in in¬ 
clement weather.” 


192 


FIREPLACES 


An inglenook may be originated in the 
plan of the house, and incorporated with 
the woodwork, or, it may be an afterthought 
and suited to its surroundings. By drawing 
a deep-seated lounge or settle near the fire¬ 
place and placing a screen at the back, an 
informal inglenook may be easily created 
not only for the older people of the family 
but for others who enjoy close contact with 
the heat. 

An open fire so often invites meditation that 
a motto or thought is an appropriate decora¬ 
tion on or near the mantel. Sometimes the 
words are lettered on the panel under the 
shelf or on the supports at the sides. Some¬ 
times they appear in a frame like a picture, 
or they are painted on the wall surface. The 
idea may be developed in whatever way best 
suits the conditions and tastes of the house¬ 
hold. A search for a fireside motto will pass 
many pleasant hours for the members of the 
family at home, or in libraries where there 
is a plentiful supply of books of quotations. 


193 


HOME FURNISHING 


Emerson, Shakespeare, and Stevenson will 
be found profitable fields for the hunter of 
mottoes for the fireplace, unless a preference 
is given to a selection from some author of 
lesser fame. 

A motto lettered on the fireplace bricks 
in an entrance hall— 

“Come, sitte besyde my hearthe, 

Tis wide for gentle companie,” 

was well chosen for its position. In another 
home the following lines were burned into 
the woodwork of the mantel, 

“Blow high, blow low, not all the snow, 

Can quench the hearth fire’s ruddy glow.” 

Mottoes for the library are not difficult to 
find among the many tributes to literature. 
In an author’s study the admonition, “Choose 
an author as thou wouldst a friend,” was 
lettered in old English text and framed as an 
over-mantel decoration. Two lines from Long¬ 
fellow’s poems,— 

“The love of reading, the sequestered nooks, 

And all the sweet serenity of books,” 


194 


FIREPLACES 


were taken for the motto of a library in a 
country house. 

A verse by Denham is less known than 
Longfellow’s, but equally appropriate for the 
reading room: 

“ Books should to one of these four ends conduce. 
For wisdom, piety, delight or use.” 


195 


XIX 


BOOKSHELVES AND BOOKCASES 

Books appeal in a practical manner to the 
home maker as a help in furnishing the house. 
When this fact becomes more generally recog¬ 
nised and better understood there will be a 
freer and more generous distribution of books 
through all of the different rooms of the house. 

Bookshelves and bookcases are so various 
in style and can be bought or made in so many 
varieties that no home need be without them. 
Open shelves and closed cases have each an 
advantage peculiar to themselves, but the former 
contribute in a greater degree to the decora¬ 
tion of the room than the latter, as the colours 
of the bindings are more apparent. Doors 
of leaded glass in a good design are more pleas¬ 
ing for guarding valuable volumes than sheets 
of plain glass. Latticed panes in squares, 

*96 


BOOKSHELVES AND BOOKCASES 


diamonds or curved lines are also interesting. 
Curtains attached by rods to the bookshelves 
require only to be drawn across the books 
when the room is in process of cleaning. With 
rich furniture and choice decorations the cases 
must be proportionately handsome to be in 
keeping. In less affluent surroundings the 
bookshelves may be of almost any material 
that accomplishes the object for which they 
are made—that of holding the books. These 
shelves may be of hard wood, oak, mahogany 
or walnut, and stained and polished or stained 
and finished in wax. They may be of poplar 
and stained an old blue, driftwood grey, forest 
green or a nut-brown; or, they may be of 
soft pine and painted white, green, dark red 
or brown. The best choice, however, when 
shelves are built against the wall, is to follow 
the same finish that is seen in the woodwork 
of the room in which the shelves are placed. 

Ready-made bookshelves with doors and 
without may be found in all the hard woods. 
Small shelves for books may be a part even 


197 


HOME FURNISHING 


of the traveller’s outfit, as they are made to 
fold together to fit into the bottom of a 
trunk. 

In establishing the books throughout the 
house no conventional arrangement is as good 
as that which is originated to meet the specific 
requirements of each household. A corner in 
the living room may be reserved for a revolv¬ 
ing bookcase in which the heavier encyclo¬ 
paedias and reference volumes are compactly 
brought together. A large dictionary laid on 
a steel frame where the pages may be turned 
without lifting is better than a bookcase for 
this valuable family friend. If magazines are 
bound in yearly or half-yearly volumes a set of 
shelves may be built for them. 

Sometimes a long wall space is available 
for holding bookshelves, but if plenty of 
supports are not given the weight of the 
books will cause the shelves to sag in the 
middle. 

An original device for utilising a closed 
chimney in a room where space was scant 

198 


BOOKSHELVES AND BOOKCASES 


was to fit three small shelves below the mantel. 
The base of the bookshelves was lettered in 
burnt-work with the motto, 

“Books are true friends,” 

and the line embellished with a flowing de¬ 
sign. 

Another ingenious plan to provide shelf 
room for some books assisted in concealing 
a conspicuously large steam heater. Two 
shelves were fastened above the radiator upon 
an upright piece that was carried down on each 
side to the floor. A brass rod was screwed 
to the lower shelf, and a curtain gathered over 
it. The shelves were stained the same colour 
as the woodwork in the room, and no sus¬ 
picion of the real intention that called them 
into existence ever came into the mind of the 
uninitiated. 

In a rented house it is not always feasible 
to carry out very radical ideas in the intro¬ 
duction of bookshelves, but there is always 
some expedient for the home maker gifted 


199 


HOME FURNISHING 


with an inventive turn of mind. For instance, 
in a boy’s room there was no space to put a 
set of shelves on the floor against the wall, 
and, owing to the landlord’s restrictions, hang¬ 
ing shelves could not be put up. The mantel 
was finally suggested for a base and the follow¬ 
ing plan adopted: 

Two shallow boxes were fitted with a par¬ 
tition that formed a shelf when the boxes 
were placed in an upright position, and the 
exterior and interior were painted white like 
the woodwork of the room. The boxes when 
placed side by side upon the mantel and filled 
with books were a successful solution of the 
problem of the conditions. 

Sometimes a niche in the wall beside the 
mantel seems to suggest the introduction 
of bookshelves, and this location is so cosy 
for winter enjoyment that the prospective 
builder of a home may make it a factor in his 
own scheme. A comfortable reading chair 
drawn close to the open fire, a table with a 
low light and books within easy reach are 


200 


BOOKSHELVES AND BOOKCASES 


elements that combine to make a picture of 
snug indoor comfort in cold weather: 

“Song has made the ingle fair. 

Song has warmed the wintry air; 

Shakespeare’s well-spring, draught divine, 
Milton’s deep, sonorous line, 

Scott’s pure fountain welling up, 

Keats’ to brim the wondrous cup.’’ 

A spacious room in a country house that 
had been reconstructed from two small rooms 
had a unique thought worked out in the ar¬ 
rangement of the books and shelves. A poets’ 
corner was established near the fireplace, 
where one could muse over the burning logs 
and enjoy “the sweet serenity” of the best 
poems. In another part of the room some 
religious volumes were ranged together, under 
the portraits of some noted clergymen, and 
in the niche formed by a deep, low window 
seat, some books on nature were gathered 
together. 

In another home the books made a charac¬ 
teristic part of the furnishings throughout the 


201 


HOME FURNISHING 


various rooms. They were placed in low 
cases in the front hall, in shelves on the stair 
landing, in all of the living rooms and bed¬ 
rooms, and imparted a delightful atmosphere 
to the booklover. 

There is often opportunity in a bedroom 
in an angle of wall to add some open shelves. 
If the bookcases that are for sale in the furni¬ 
ture stores are not the right size, a plain de¬ 
sign may be executed by a cabinet maker. 
If a washable silk curtain is desired to hang 
across the front of the shelves the natural- 
coloured pongee is the most serviceable. The 
edges may be trimmed with an embroidered 
design or one put on in colours with a stencil. 
In considering bookshelves for a bedroom it 
is safer not to hang any above a bed. 

A stair landing that is wide enough to 
contain some bookshelves and a built-in seat 
will make this commonplace position more at¬ 
tractive, and a more pictorial effect will be 
attained here if the window can be one that 
is set with leaded glass in good design. 


202 


BOOKSHELVES AND BOOKCASES 


As books are one of the growing possessions 
of the family they demand increasing accom¬ 
modations. There are cases designed to meet 
this need, and these are made in sets or tiers 
that may be added to from time to time with¬ 
out spoiling their shape. One variety is made 
to fold compactly together for shipping or 
for packing away when not in use; others 
are made with open fronts, and some have 
glass doors as a protection from the dust. 


203 


XX 


WINDOW SEATS AND CUSHION COVERS 

Window seats are not a modern invention. 
In Queen Elizabeth’s time the wide, protec¬ 
tive walls pierced by narrow windows often in¬ 
closed the built-in seat. In the architecture 
of later, more peaceful centuries the dimin¬ 
ished thickness of the walls made the station¬ 
ary seat unavailable. In its place the cabinet 
maker provided a window chair without a back 
and with handles instead of arms at the two 
ends. This type of chair is seen in reproduc¬ 
tions of the old models, and occasionally an 
antique specimen is found. 

A seat built below a recessed window is 
almost always justified by its pictorial effect 
even if it is not used to any great extent. The 
person of matter-of-fact tendencies is some¬ 
times heard to object to this kind of seat 
because when sitting in it “one cannot look 


204 


WINDOW SEATS 


out of the window.” On the other hand, 
the visual enjoyment of a room that is taste¬ 
fully appointed exceeds that afforded by a 
commonplace exterior view, the former pro¬ 
longing itself indefinitely through artificial 
lighting. 

To incorporate the window seat success¬ 
fully within the architectural lines of the house, 
it is necessary to realise the importance of this 
part of the interior fittings while the plans are 
in preparation. The remodelling of an old 
house sometimes makes the introduction of 
a window seat practicable. 

Window seats, notwithstanding their popu¬ 
lar appreciation, are rarely too much in evi¬ 
dence. One may call to mind single rooms 
where the window seat contributed to the 
attraction, but few houses are rendered dis¬ 
tinctive throughout by this feature. 

Window seats are disappointing when they 
are not properly located and when their con¬ 
struction is not rightly understood. A win¬ 
dow seat in an entrance hall where no one 


205 


HOME FURNISHING 


sits and where it receives only casual attention 
is practically wasted. Formal rooms of the 
house make no especial claim upon this de¬ 
vice, but in the living rooms it is a means of 
securing cosy, inviting-looking interiors. The 
best situation for the window seat must be 
a question for individual decision. The dining 
room has probably the most urgent claim when 
it is in much demand for afternoon or evening 
entertainment, and the picturesque quality of 
the window seat is most welcome among the 
conventional furnishings of this department of 
the house. 

Brick houses with walls eighteen or more 
inches deep offer the simplest solution to the 
making of window seats, but with walls of 
ordinary thickness good effects may be made 
by projecting a casement window outside the 
running wall. Sometimes an uneven line of 
wall or a “jog” invites the introduction of a 
window seat, and the arrangement is made 
doubly satisfactory if it is inclosed like a box 
and made a storage place. In a bedroom 
206 


WINDOW SEATS 


a window seat of this variety supplements 
closet and bureau in a helpful way. Sometimes 
it is devoted to extra bedding, sometimes 
to sewing materials. In a living room it may 
always be utilised as a stowaway for articles 
that must be kept at hand but out of sight. 

In the construction of the window seat 
the primary consideration is the height. With 
a cushion laid over the top of the seat the 
distance from the floor should be less than 
if it is left uncovered. In some rooms smooth, 
finished boards suit the conditions better than 
an upholstered cushion. A mattress for a 
window seat is usually three inches high. 
It may be made of hair if the best filling can 
be afforded, or cotton, felt or moss may be the 
filling at a less cost. If cushions for long 
seats are made in sections they will be more 
easily handled on cleaning days than if they 
are made up in one piece. 

A covering for a seat cushion has a large 
share in making a window seat a harmonious 
part of the room. A plain material may be 


207 


HOME FURNISHING 


the choice and an ample variety can be found 
in durable materials. Corduroy is especially 
appropriate for such use. If a mixture of col¬ 
ours in a figure is preferred a cotton or wool 
tapestry may be secured. In using a striped 
material the effect is better if the stripes run 
into the window instead of along the front. 

A seat built against or underneath a win¬ 
dow is sometimes very desirable but unat¬ 
tainable. A simple substitute is a movable box 
with a lid that can be raised. A packing box 
of the right size may be lined for this pur¬ 
pose with wall paper and then the out¬ 
side covered with cloth. Handles, a lock 
and hinges of good pattern will complete 
the usefulness of the box for safe keeping, 
and the top will make another seat in the 
room. 

Pillows numbering seven are a comfortable 
allowance for a divan. “One for each day 
in the week,” said a bright little woman who 
illustrated her remark by bringing her Sunday 
208 


WINDOW SEATS 


pillow most prominently to the fore on the 
first day of the week, the Monday pillow on 
the day following and so on through the seven 
days. 

Before the selection of the cushion or pillow 
cover is made, the filling comes up with a ques¬ 
tion mark. When considering the different 
kinds offered at the stores for this use, down, 
feathers, moss, excelsior, silk floss, hair and 
cotton, it is well to understand the position 
which the cushion is to occupy. For a stiff 
back cushion hair or moss is better than feath¬ 
ers or down, but the latter are more suitable 
in some positions. A divan of the usual 
length may have three stiff pillows at the back 
measuring twenty-four inches each way. The 
covers for these should match, or nearly match, 
the cover of the divan. Soft pillows may 
be filled with down, and the best quality have 
an interlining to keep the material from prick¬ 
ing its way through. A pillow filled with 
goose feathers will be of more substance than 
the down, yet soft enough for comfort. The 


209 


HOME FURNISHING 


sizes of the down pillows are eighteen, twenty, 
twenty-two, twenty-four and twenty-six inches 
square. The smallest size, when not filled 
too tightly, makes a good head-rest for a chair 
with a high wooden back. This little pillow 
may either be fastened by tapes to the top 
rail of the chair or laid across and not fastened 
on. The twenty-two-inch pillow is the best for 
ordinary use. 

In looking up covers for the cushions the 
colour, texture and design must meet the 
price that is to be paid, and a further con¬ 
sideration to make the cover a complete sat¬ 
isfaction is its suitability to its environment. 
If the choice is made at a store some definite 
guide may be taken along in a bit of ribbon 
or paper that shows the colours already ap¬ 
pearing on the divan. A hasty choice at a 
bargain table is certain to fail in making an 
artistic decoration in the home. 

If the cover of the sofa is plain there is 
opportunity for introducing a variety of colours 
upon the pillows. A rainbow set of covers 


210 


WINDOW SEATS 


in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and 
violet was chosen as an outfit for a divan 
covered in a neutral tone, and in another 
home only the nasturtium colours were se¬ 
lected for a green lounge. 

A sofa showing a decided figure on its cover¬ 
ing looks better when its pillows are quiet 
in design and plain in colour, and the richer 
and more elegant the sofa cover the less con¬ 
spicuous may be the pillows. 

Pillow squares are sold sometimes for only 
one side and when these squares are put to¬ 
gether the seam may be hidden with a cord, 
gimp, fringe or braid. Skillful needlework 
is required to conceal the stitches in work 
of this kind. The best and the easiest way 
to make up a pillow cover is to cut the two 
sides the same size as the pillow and then 
sew up three of the sides and also two inches 
at either of the ends of the fourth side. The 
cord or gimp may be next sewed over the seams 
and the pillow slipped in when the fourth side 
is closed up and covered with the trimming. 


211 


HOME FURNISHING 


When both sides of the pillow are alike a 
French seam may finish the edges on the 
right side without the addition of gimp or 
braid. This treatment is fully as satisfactory, 
if neatly done, as the former, and is one of the 
items for the home that may well be simplified. 

In selecting a patterned material by the 
yard for a pillow, enough must be purchased 
to place the design in the centre. This, of 
course, does not apply to an all-over pattern, 
but is essential with stripes of varying widths 
or tapestry designs. 

The covering for the sofa bears so close a 
relation to the covers for the pillows that one 
may never be planned without considering 
the other. The inexperienced housekeeper soon 
learns that the cost of upholstery work when 
well done makes durable materials the most 
economical in the end, and that quiet tones 
and closely-set patterns blend the best with 
other furnishings. 

Lounges covered with heavy leather do not 
give the measure of comfort that is desired 


212 


WINDOW SEATS 


for resting hours, and a sofa less expensively 
constructed will give more pleasure. 

If a plain divan is used a cover to lay over 
it may be chosen. The modern kelim rugs 
are appropriate for certain rooms when their 
colours are right with the surroundings. An¬ 
tique rugs, however beautiful in colour, seem 
more in place on the floor than as furniture 
coverings. 

Bagdad stripes sewed together to spread over 
a lounge have enjoyed so wide a popularity 
that they are now copied in cheap imita¬ 
tions. The plain one-colour Bagdads, orna¬ 
mented with a simple stitchery, have not yet 
become so well known as to be common. 

Among the goods sold by the yard that 
are suitable to throw over a divan or lounge 
are the velours, linen and linen taffetas, reps 
and jutes. These are fifty inches wide and 
cover quite a range in texture and price. 


213 


XXI 

TABLE SETTINGS 

The newer ideas in table settings and fur¬ 
nishings are so attractive that they merit more 
than a few words. The decorative shops have 
done much to influence the popular taste, as 
many of the buyers go abroad each year and 
bring back choice, if small, collections. Italian 
centers abound with fine needlework, now that 
the Arte della Feminilli stores have been es¬ 
tablished. These centers encourage the special 
handwork of Italian women, providing designs, 
linens and threads, and paying for the work 
when finished—instead of waiting until the 
article is sold. In the old churches and cathe¬ 
drals there are quantities of valuable em¬ 
broideries and laces carefully protected, but 
there are others worn to shreds with careless 
usage. This society gathers from every source, 
museums as well as from the rag fairs, frag¬ 
ments of wool, cotton or silk which may con- 

214 


TABLE SETTINGS 


tain a design that can be used, and blue prints 
it for use. In this way the beautiful work and 
designs of the early centuries are not lost, but 
preserved for future generations. The peculiar 
knotting of the thread which made that design 
what it was, is then studied out, and taught 
to the women. Their work is very beautifully 
done when once learned so that the result is of 
permanent artistic value. On hand-woven linen 
this work is especially effective; in fact the 
society found that in order to reproduce the 
designs properly, they had also to reproduce 
the hand-woven material on which the em¬ 
broidery was to be done. 

The Italian linens are found everywhere now¬ 
adays, and can readily be distinguished by the 
beautiful quality of the linen, the narrow rolled 
hem, and the beautiful cut work. Some of the 
spaces that have been cut out are filled with 
a knotted design made of the linen thread; 
birds, flowers, leaf forms, initials, and conven¬ 
tional forms that remind one of Gothic work. 
The embroidery on some pieces is done with a 

215 


HOME FURNISHING 


pale brown thread, or blue, and I have seen a 
set done in pale rose thread, but linen color 
and white are the most usual threads used. 
Hand made tassels thrust through decorated 
beads add quaintness. It contributes to the 
pleasure of acquiring these linens to find the 
emblems of the various towns where they are 
made, embroidered in some fashion on them; 
such as the winged lion of Venice, or the little 
birds of St. Francis, from the town of Assisi. 

The many place napkins, one for the plate, 
another for the glass and yet another for the 
bread and butter dish, have been superseded 
by the simpler single d’oyley of size large 
enough to take the place of all three. The linen 
for the center may be a runner or a square as 
one prefers. Sometimes for four people two 
long runners are used, crossing in the middle of 
the table. The service plates are placed on 
the four ends and the flowers or fruit in the 
center. 

The colors used in the napery play a large 
part in the table setting. Always take the colors 

216 



LIGHT BLUE WEDGWOOD CHINA WITH MEDALLIONS OF 
DEEPER BLUE. BOWL BLUE AND ROSE. NAPKINS OF BLUE 
LINEN EDGED WITH GRAY, EMBROIDERED WITH ROSE SILK. 
SILVER CANDLESTICKS WITH R °SE COLORED CANDLES. 
DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY MRS. A. M. WEAVER 


YELLOW 

GREEN. 

BON-BON 


WEDGWOOD CHINA DECORATED 
IRAY ITALIAN HAND WORKED 
DISHES AND FLOWER HOLDER. 

ALICE L. DALLIMORE 


IN CREAM AND 
LINEN. SILVER 
DECORATED BY 


































































































TABLE SETTINGS 


of the flowers, china and linen into considera¬ 
tion when arranging the table. For a luncheon 
or after theatre supper, one may use one of the 
glass sets, aubergine, sulphur, aquamarine, 
amber or black. The comport, candlesticks, 
plates and glasses should be all of one color, 
and if the linen is chosen in accord, the result 
is extraordinarily handsome. Brass, pewter, 
and silver candlesticks are used with any of 
these combinations of color. The small shops 
that turn out individual work must be sought, 
if one wishes individual effects, but much can 
be done with the easier secured Japanese and 
Chinese wares if care is used in making or buying 
decorative linens to accompany them. Sedji 
ware of a cool, mellow green is a charming table 
setting for a hot day. Belleek, with its creamy 
tones, modem Wedgewood, Canton, and the 
peacock designs, the lovely Doulton, the Italian 
maj olica, are all individually artistic. B reakfast 
sets for one or two are delightfully original. 
These are often used on circular Chinese trays 
with stout bamboo edge, generally with linens 
217 


HOME FURNISHING 


cut to fit, and in color contrasting or matching 
the china. 

The woman who finds pleasure in needlework 
will enjoy making sets of blue linen hemstitched 
in white, stenciling yellow linen in brown or 
blue, or inserting a band of mauve for a border 
on a gray linen runner and napkins. For the 
quaint Breton potteries or Czechoslovakian 
china, linens cross stitched in gay reds and 
blues, or plain black, make a pleasing variety, 
though they should not be used continuously, 
as the eye tires of the constant use of primitive 
colors. 

These few suggestions may be worked out 
more or less expensively. Lengths of gray 
Russian crash,—which usually comes in narrow 
widths—may be hemstitched together to make 
the required size, and the edges buttonholed 
or crocheted with a heavy linen thread, the 
same color as that of the china. Buttercup 
linen with black cross stitching, with big black 
tassels weighting the comers, is a fetching com¬ 
bination. A gay breakfast set for the summer 
218 


TABLE SETTINGS 


bungalow is made of red and white, or blue 
and white checked linen, with rolled edges 
whipped with black. Napkins, of course, are 
of the same. For more elaborate work, de¬ 
signs are drawn and outlined in the chosen 
color. The background is entirely covered with 
cross stitching, which throws the design out in 
high relief. This is especially well done in the 
Italian linens before mentioned. 

Small squares of linen, the same as napkins 
and runner, are made to cover the cream 
pitcher and lemon dish, and are weighted down 
by bright beads at each comer. Larger squares 
are made for the sandwich tray. These are 
more often used when tea is served out of doors, 
to protect from the stray fleck of dust. 

Candles are used whether they are needed or 
not, and as they may now be secured in any 
color, this important adjunct is easily arranged. 
The nuisance of melting candles and slipping 
and burning shades, has led the hostess to use 
the unshaded candle. The non-drip candles, 
except in a strong draft, bum steadily and 

219 


HOME FURNISHING 


cleanly, and are a great pleasure to use. For 
Christmas and children’s fetes, red candles are 
in order. For other affairs, orange, jonquil 
yellow, peacock, blue, gray, holly green or 
black may be chosen in accordance with the 
flowers and china used. 


220 


XXII 


LAMPS AND CANDLESTICKS 

Lamps and candlesticks, even with the 
perfection attained of late years in other means 
of artificial lighting, still retain a wide popu¬ 
larity. The sentimental charm that attaches 
itself to many antique objects and customs 
is not the only cause for the estimation in which 
lamps and candles are held. There is a sub¬ 
stantial foundation of usefulness underlying 
the aesthetic enjoyment of the old style, and 
an occasional dependence if modern methods 
suddenly fail, that keeps the manufacture 
of lamps and candlesticks on a permanent 
basis. 

In early New England times candles were 
universally in use, and their making devolved 
upon the energetic housewife of that day. As 
each family usually slaughtered an ox yearly 
to provide the salt beef that was consumed, 


221 


HOME FURNISHING 


there was an abundance of tallow. This 
was put into the kettle, melted and strained. 
Then, a ball of candle wick made of soft, 
untwisted cotton having been purchased, it 
was cut up and doubled. Twelve of these 
wicks were strung on a smooth, strong stick 
the size of a finger, and when they were ready 
they were immersed in the warm tallow. A 
coating of the tallow adhered to the cotton 
wicks, and after being laid aside for a while 
to cool the wicks were dipped again and again. 
The result was a round cylinder of tallow 
with a wick in the centre. To make the 
“tallow dips” white they were hung in the 
window to bleach out by the winter sun. 

Candle moulds were later on used for mak¬ 
ing candles in a less laborious way. Some 
of the old moulds may be seen now in museums 
or kept by historical societies to show the 
primitive customs of our early settlers. 

A candle lamp was made by standing a 
plain or a ground glass shade over a candle¬ 
stick to keep the air from blowing out the 


222 


LAMPS AND CANDLESTICKS 


flame. Later, an oil lamp was constructed 
with a metal bowl which held sperm oil and 
a wick, without a chimney or shade. 

The banquet lamp of our own day resembles 
in height and general appearance the brass 
lamp of the early nineteenth century. The 
glass shades of that date are now the antique 
hunter’s richest prizes, so scarce are they. 
Sometimes these shades were hung with glass 
pendants that caught the evanescent rays of 
colour in a fascinating way. Both shades 
and pendants are reproduced by modern 
manufacturers for those who like to have the 
accessories to their colonial furnishings all in 
keeping. 

The lamps made a few years ago in this 
country were among the marked features of 
our impoverished artistic taste; but with the 
art element springing up so stimulatingly in 
all branches of home furnishing, the designs 
for lamps have been wonderfully improved. 
The mechanical construction is complete in 
every detail, the shapes of the bowls, their 


223 


HOME FURNISHING 


colours and the shades to fit them make them 
now a satisfactory possession. 

As lamps are first of all articles for use, 
they should be selected with this point in 
mind, but with the aesthetic principle not 
forgotten. Many porcelain or pottery pieces 
in bowl shape may be made up into lamps, 
if the opening at the top is large enough for 
the oil tank. The Japanese bowls, besides 
others in our American ware, suggest a wide 
assortment to choose from without depending 
on the lamps made up in the shops. Brass 
and copper pieces that are hammered by 
hand are another source of supply for the 
lamp lover who likes original things in the 
house. 

A pleasing light for the library or living 
room, where several persons must be accom¬ 
modated, is the double student lamp in dull 
brass finish, with plain or fluted coloured 
shades. Variations of this type are made in 
the older, single form in small and large sizes. 

When a piano is insufficiently lighted by 

224 


LAMPS AND CANDLESTICKS 


the gas or electricity a standing lamp is the 
best reinforcement that can be brought in. 
If the room is furnished in dark colours and 
heavy wood a wrought iron lamp will prob¬ 
ably be the choice; in lighter, more delicate 
surroundings, the dull or polished brass may 
be chosen. 

In houses where the lamps are carried from 
one room to another it is wise to buy those 
of metal with handles on one or both sides. 

The larger and handsomer lamps are made 
with the oil tank a separate part that may 
be removed for filling without carrying out 
the base. Drawing room and parlour lamps 
are in this way saved the risks of a trip into 
the kitchen department. 

The lighting by candles and lamps alone 
throughout the entire house is made a hobby 
in some homes even when modern improve¬ 
ments are available. The result is always 
pleasant and restful, but entails a good deal 
of care and some little expense. 

For the evening meal, afternoon teas in 


225 


HOME FURNISHING 


winter and general bedroom use the candle 
will always be in vogue. For the dining 
table candles should have pretty shades to 
harmonise with the flower decorations, and, 
to prevent accident from the blowing of the 
flame, the shades may be made up over a non¬ 
combustible lining. The shape of candle shades 
does not change from season to season, but 
there are novel ways for decoration and some 
new materials used from time to time. Some 
shades are made of accordion-plaited silk 
or paper; others are of tissue paper that is 
crinkled; some are of white water-colour paper 
painted with buds of flowers; or vellum is 
bordered in gold paint; some are formed with 
beads and finished with a fringe, and a thin 
openwork of metal is lined with a coloured 
silk. 

The bedroom candle depends upon the 
style of its holder for giving interest to the 
smaller items of furnishing in this place. The 
tin candlesticks painted in an enamel colour, 
and those of coloured china are the least ex- 


226 


LAMPS AND CANDLESTICKS 


pensive for rooms of a cottage. Hand-painted 
work may be applied to fine white china to 
carry some idea that appears in the other 
decorations in the room. Brass candlesticks, 
either new or old, if of good design, can never 
be outdone in popularity. Silver candlesticks, 
either separate or as a candelabra, have a 
special affinity for the dining room, where 
they show to advantage among the accoutre¬ 
ments of the sideboard. Tall candlesticks 
made of dull-finished mahogany are also used 
on the dining table to contrast with the silver 
and glass. 

Russian candlesticks of hammered brass 
that stand four and five feet high are some¬ 
times placed in a dark corner to give a mys¬ 
terious half-light. 

Lamps and candlesticks are in most homes 
of to-day but an auxiliary to the electric or 
gas lights, and the city or suburban house 
must have one or the other, perhaps both, 
before it is considered completely equipped. 
In the selection of chandeliers and electroliers 
221 


HOME FURNISHING 


attention should be paid to securing patterns 
that are simple and graceful in design. There 
is a limited choice in materials, but the pat¬ 
terns are legion. 

Chandeliers are not necessary in bedrooms 
where side lights do better service. The 
chandelier is often omitted, also, from the 
living room and library, and in the hall and 
dining room a hanging lantern takes its place. 
If a single side light does not give enough 
illumination in any one position a double or 
triple light may be installed. 

The fewer kinds of metal that are gathered 
into one room the better is the result; so, in 
choosing gas brackets and chandeliers the aim 
should be to bring them into relation with the 
interior hardware, andirons and fire-pieces that 
are already in place. Bright brass is covered 
with a lacquer that renders polishing unneces¬ 
sary; a dull brass finish has the advantage of a 
softer, more refined appearance than the bright 
variety, except on the antique specimens that 
have reached a rich lustre through many years 


228 


LAMPS AND CANDLESTICKS 


of polishing. Brackets and lanterns of black 
iron are often replaced by a brass foundation 
painted black, at a less cost than the wrought 
iron. 


229 


XXIII 


PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 

Besides being works of art, pictures have 
an important office to fulfil in the home as 
decoration for the walls. A room may be 
perfectly equipped with all the required furni¬ 
ture, its floors covered with carpets or rugs, 
the window light screened or tempered with 
hangings and the walls papered in artistic 
colours and good designs, and yet the result be 
not quite satisfying. The reason is apparent 
by a glance at the pictureless walls. 

The standard of selection in this depart¬ 
ment cannot be fixed too high. In the case 
of wedding, birthday and anniversary presents 
that fail to reach any art excellence one is 
helpless, but where a choice is possible it should 
be made seriously, and not the object alone 
but the position it is to occupy considered. 


230 


PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


Masterpieces of art are naturally out of 
reach of the majority of our homes, but there 
may be found at this time a larger variety 
of good pictures at moderate prices than ever 
before. 

The selection of pictures must be a matter 
of individual taste and preference. A picture 
should never be bought because it is cheap, 
nor because the frame is desirable; nor should 
the choice fall to pictures that look well in 
some other house, as environment has as 
peculiar an effect upon some pictures as on 
some persons. Restraint should be exercised 
in picture buying, on whatever scale it is at¬ 
tempted. Perhaps the most critical test for 
the amateur purchaser is that of interesting 
composition or motive. 

A lover of old-world art may find in copies 
of his favourite pictures a great deal of enjoy¬ 
ment, and the half-tone engravings from works 
of the modern painters, Bonheur, Burne- 
Jones, Landseer, Millet and Rossetti may be 
turned to with pleasure. Carbon prints in 


231 


HOME FURNISHING 


brown or in blue, platinotypes without surface 
gloss, etchings, reproductions of portraits from 
Reynolds, Van Dyck, Holbein, Rembrandt, 
photogravures in dull-grey finish of literary 
scenes—these are a small number of the sources 
to be drawn upon for the artistic furnishing 
of the wall. 

Expense is not always involved, either, if 
one knows where to turn to in the high-class 
magazines for coloured prints. The work 
of one illustrator may, for instance, be grouped 
under one mat, or several pictures that have 
a correlated interest may be framed alike and 
hung near together. 

The unique character of the coloured prints 
of Indian heads suggests a key-note for fol¬ 
lowing up other decorations in the room on 
the same theme, after the pictures themselves 
have been placed, with Navajo rug, Moki 
baskets and Pueblo pottery. In the same way 
the Japanese prints offer opportunities for 
decorations in sympathy with their quaint 
colourings. 


232 


PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


The subject of framing may be entered 
upon from two points of view: first, the rela¬ 
tion of the frame to the picture; second, the 
relation of the framed picture to the room. 
It must always be remembered that a frame 
should never be so emphatic as to draw at¬ 
tention away from the picture. It is simply 
and only a frame or setting. 

Mats are a part of the frame and therefore 
an essential element in presenting the picture 
to the best advantage. A few years ago it 
was the custom to mount photographs on 
white cards, but the grey, green or brown 
mats are now given the preference, the colour 
being decided by the general tone of the print. 
Special cards are made that require no mount¬ 
ing of the photograph, the bevelled opening 
being left for inserting the picture. This 
does away with one of the chief difficulties 
in amateur framing—the mounting of the print. 

A passe-partout is an inexpensive expedient 
for a regular frame and requires only a glass 
and binding paper; the latter may be bought 


233 


HOME FURNISHING 


in black, green, white, red and gray—a good 
variety to select from. It is better to fasten 
the strip of binding paper all around the glass 
first, and then lay the glass over the print and 
its cardboard back. Then fasten the strips of 
binding paper at the back. If the picture is 
to be hung on the wall it will be necessary 
to insert brass rings at the back. Rings for 
this purpose are sold with a gummed cloth 
which is quickly attached to the back of the 
picture. 

A group of pictures may be put under one 
mat or framed in a more durable way with 
glass and wooden frame. The record of a 
visit to the famous musical city of Baireuth 
was made in a series of photographic views 
framed together, the first picture showing 
the entrance to the town, and the other pic¬ 
tures continuing a pictorial story of adventures 
enjoyed during the stay. 

The hanging of a picture makes or mars 
its success as a decoration for the room. If 
the colours are painted or printed in bright 

234 



DAYBED IN SITTING ROOM OF REMODELED CITY HOUSE. WELL DESIGNED 
DRAPERIES. PICTURES ARE HUNG WITH GOOD FEELING FOR BALANCE 





































































































































PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


tones, the degree of light needed is not so 
great in the daytime, or in the evening, as 
with colours of less intense character. Dark 
corners of a room may be perceptibly bright¬ 
ened by the introduction of pictures high in 
key—pinks, reds and yellows. 

Large pictures exact distance to appear 
to their best advantage. This rule applies 
also to compositions of curving brooks and 
winding roads that seem to disappear beyond 
the horizon. 

Family portraits bear so intimate a rela¬ 
tion to the life of the household that they 
belong in the living rooms, except when for 
some reason they suit the scheme of decora¬ 
tions for the formal hall or drawing room. 

Portraits of celebrated authors acquire in¬ 
creased interest when placed near their works, 
and pictures of composers are more atten¬ 
tively studied when hung near musical instru¬ 
ments. In one library a little gallery of 
writers’ faces was made by filling the entire 
wall above the bookshelves with prints framed 


235 


HOME FURNISHING 


uniformly. The same idea might be taken 
up in a music room with the same success, 
using good photographs or engravings of per¬ 
sons eminent in the musical field. 

Small pictures that are distributed at in¬ 
tervals around a wall lack the style that they 
will present when grouped more closely to¬ 
gether. The same principle applies to the 
small plaster medallions that are usually dis¬ 
posed, each by itself, around the room. 

Two methods of hanging pictures with a 
wire cord are followed. One is to use one 
hook for the picture and have the cord form 
an acute angle at the top where it falls over 
the hook. The other plan is to use two hooks 
and two separate cords, the cords making 
two separate perpendicular lines from the 
back of the frame to the moulding. The lat¬ 
ter is better and safer for large, heavy pic¬ 
tures, the former more suited to pictures light 
in weight. Whichever way is preferred, every 
precaution for security should be taken and 
the risk of injury to the picture and the possi- 

236 




























































4 






PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


bility of accident to anyone near a falling 
picture should be guarded against not only 
by a careful attention to the picture when 
first hung but by a general examination from 
time to time. The superstition about the 
falling mirror would soon be dispelled if com¬ 
mon-sense measures for safety were observed. 
String should not, of course, be used for pic¬ 
ture hanging as it is likely to give way at any 
moment. The wire picture cord in silver 
finish sometimes stands out too brightly on 
a wall and the gilt finish may then be sub¬ 
stituted. 

Pictures that are too small to be seen in 
reasonable detail from any part of the room 
need not be placed upon the walls. In ar¬ 
ranging pictures the aim should be to convey 
a sense of repose and dignity, and this is never 
achieved where there is overcrowding. 

Almost every picture looks best when hung 
flat or nearly flat against the wall. This is 
done by having the rings or screws on the 
back of the frame (by which the picture is 


237 


HOME FURNISHING 


hung) fastened near the top. If, however, 
the picture requires tipping forward to catch 
the light, it may be kept in position by a tack 
placed under the lower part of the frame. 

The proper height at which to hang a pic¬ 
ture is often questioned. A good general 
rule is to bring the centre of the picture 
within range of the eyes of a person of ordi¬ 
nary height as he stands before it. Sometimes 
three pictures framed alike and similar in 
composition or colouring are to be hung one 
above another. The middle picture, which 
will look better if it is a size smaller than the 
two others, should be the one selected to be 
in eye range. The space of an inch or two, 
in such conditions, may be left between the 
pictures. 

One common mistake of an inexperienced 
picture hanger is to bring into juxtaposition 
dark and light mats. Harmonious results are 
impossible to attain when this is done. 

In some houses the hallway is quite over¬ 
looked in the matter of picture decoration. 

238 


PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


The opportunity, either in a living or an en¬ 
trance hall, is too good to be lost, and when 
well met adds to the good impression that 
is desirable for the entrance to the home. 

Bric-a-brac in the cheap meaning of the 
word is not in good taste. Rare, beautiful 
objects and those of historical interest bear 
quite a different character in the decoration 
of the home. A collection of old china serves 
more than one purpose when carried out with 
intelligence, and so with other fancies for 
gathering representative pieces, whether they 
are tea pots, tea caddies, jugs, pepper pots 
or steins. 

Faience, the name for glazed pottery, came 
from the city of Faienza in Italy. The Ital¬ 
ians borrowed this art from the Moors in Spain 
and reached their highest mark of excellence 
in the fifteenth century. A return to the 
simplicity and beauty of those times has lately 
been made in America in a unique ware called 
the Grueby, in which the glaze is soft and 


239 


HOME FURNISHING 


dull and lightly decorated in self-colour. The 
vases are turned on the primitive potter’s 
wheel that dates back to ancient Egypt; then 
the clay is dried slightly, and while still damp 
the outline of the decoration (a leaf or a flower) 
is drawn on it, and a thin rope of clay pressed 
in place and modelled in shape. This is 
baked and then the enamel is fired on it. Each 
piece is different from the next, and individ¬ 
ually attractive. The colours of the Grueby 
pottery are exquisite shades of green, blue, 
brown, red and yellow. 

Another pottery distinctly American, for which 
a position may be claimed with that of older 
nations, is the Rookwood. New styles have 
each year been brought out, until now every 
room in the house may have a suitable kind. 
The Newcomb, Merrimac, Volkmar, Poillon, 
Van Briggle and Dedham ware are all intrin¬ 
sically interesting for home decoration. 

The appreciation of plaster casts has grad¬ 
ually increased and with it a larger variety 
is at hand from which to make selections for 


240 


PICTURES AND BRIC-A-BRAC 


the home. The prices, too, bring the casts 
within reach of the most modest incomes. 
Some well-known subjects are the musical 
Cupids, the Venus de Milo, the bust of Dona¬ 
tello, famous authors or composers, the Tanagra 
figures, Barye’s lion, the Madonnas, and fancy 
heads. The ivory-tinted casts take their place 
better in a private room than the white ones. 
If white ones are to be used a simple method 
for changing the colour is to dissolve beeswax 
in turpentine and add a little burnt umber. 
This may be rubbed on carefully and wiped 
off, leaving whatever amount of tint is desired. 

One of the useful kinds of bric-a-brac is 
the flower holder. Whatever is selected for 
this office may be chosen as the frame is chosen 
for a picture, to set off the beauty of the blos¬ 
soms. The plain glass fish globes are the 
least expensive flower holder for the centre 
of the dining table; iridescent glass is higher 
priced but not costly. If heavier jars are 
preferred for certain flowers the Japanese vases 
offer a wide variety. 


241 


XXIV 

BASKETS AND JARDINIERES 

Baskets will always, by their office of util¬ 
ity, claim a certain amount of attention in the 
home. A few years ago the selection of a 
basket for household use was quickly made; 
in fact, the variety to be found in the shops 
was so limited that it was scarcely a matter 
of choice. Interest in basketry, however, 
has developed at a rapid pace, and through 
the Arts and Crafts movement and an ap¬ 
preciative collecting of Indian work this item 
in home furnishing is on a higher plane than 
ever before. It follows that the productions 
of the hand workers have naturally raised the 
standard of machine-wrought articles, and a 
better variety may be found now in these 
than ever before. 

Indian baskets are as fascinating to some 
collectors as rugs, silver, furniture or china 
to others. Their value is recognised by mu- 

242 


BASKETS AND JARDINIERES 


seums in large towns, and their accumulation 
is a matter of civic pride. The old baskets, 
many of them, are so softly coloured that 
they remind one of antique tapestries, and 
their quaint, curious patterns, symbolic of 
the life and illustrative of the legends of a 
passing race, are so finely woven that the 
making of a single round often consumes an 
entire day. The process of splitting, curing 
and bleaching the grasses and reeds is tedious 
and slow. The dyes are made by steeping the 
peel or bark of trees, the juice of berries be¬ 
ing used as an immersion. The fine black 
strands that are frequently seen outlining a 
design are the stems of maiden-hair ferns. 

Among the fifty-eight tribes of Indians 
in this country there are a number noted 
for their skilful weaving of baskets. The 
Mokis, who live in pueblos in Arizona, are 
famous for their fine baskets, and their manu¬ 
facture is a profitable source of income. This 
tribe regards its baskets as sacred and makes 
them a part of religious ceremonials. The 


243 


HOME FURNISHING 


Klickitas, sometimes called the Iroquois of 
the West, adopt the imbricated style, or over¬ 
lapping weave, in the construction of their 
baskets. Their burden baskets are well- 
known—generally oblong in shape, very deep 
and formed on a block. The pattern shows 
only on one side and is usually the lightning 
or rattlesnake motive. The inhabitants of 
the Aleutian Islands have a distinctive art 
in their basketry. The broad, stiff grass is 
shredded fine and woven so closely as to be 
waterproof. It is soft and pliable, and when 
not in use the fabric may be folded away like 
a piece of cloth. The introduction of col¬ 
oured worsted and occasional bits of feathers 
marks the Aleutian baskets. The Apache tribe 
makes a basket well-proportioned and care¬ 
fully woven. The Ute make is distinguished 
by rougher weaving than that of the other 
Indians. The Shinumos show fine quality 
and great variety in their baskets, and when 
intended as a water-jug a basket is given a 
coat of pitch and gum to make it water-tight. 


244 


BASKETS AND JARDINIERES 


A curious difference is noticed in the baskets 
of stationary and wandering tribes, the latter 
showing a pouch or bag that is more suitable 
for carrying than the designs made by the 
Indians who stay at home. 

Indian baskets are nearly imperishable, and 
a collection of them serves many utilitarian 
purposes. In one home these baskets were 
distributed throughout the rooms and put 
to every-day use. In another house the baskets 
were grouped around the brickwork of the 
fireplace, a centre of attraction. 

Outside of the Indian baskets, those of 
hand-made willow in natural colour are the 
most commonly known. Different shapes in 
willow can be made and then stained to fit 
them into the colours of a room. Baskets 
made of palmetto are light and soft, yet 
durable, and the natural colour suits any 
surroundings. Raffia and reed baskets can be 
made by the amateur in real craftsman’s 
manner, designing and constructing at the 
same time. 


245 


HOME FURNISHING 


Jardinieres and flower holders are among 
the articles of furnishing that do a large share 
towards giving a homelike, livable atmosphere. 
Fortunately for the large majority of homes 
where only a moderate outlay may be made 
in this direction, there is a good variety in 
choice and price. 

The decoration of the house with plants 
and flowers was, until of late years, confined 
chiefly to the cottage-window display of ger¬ 
aniums, and, in finer dwellings, to a formal 
arrangement on gala occasions with foliage 
plants from the florists; but nowadays the 
decorative quality of plant life brought in¬ 
doors is, with the awakened interest in beau¬ 
tifying the home, better appreciated. Flowers 
on the dining table, plants in the living room, 
experiments in seed raising in the nursery and 
even a miniature fernery in the bath room, 
are not infrequently seen at this time. 

A jardiniere to be “a thing of beauty” must 
be of good design, harmoniously coloured 
and suited to its environment. These three 


246 


BASKETS AND JARDINIERES 


requirements are not easy to meet, but they 
are essential for the all-around success of 
the jardiniere. A common mistake in se¬ 
lecting this article is to forget the relative 

values of the plant and its holder. A jar 

that is garishly coloured and very ornate in 
design defeats its object of framing or hold¬ 
ing the plant. The Japanese have a highly 
cultivated sense of the decorative value of 
plants and flowers. One exquisite blossom 

placed in a graceful vase expresses more to 

these people than our indiscriminate massing 
of many varieties in a showy holder. The 
dwarf trees brought over from Japan are 
often more curious than beautiful, but their 
ornamental purpose is undeniable. Each speci¬ 
men is grown in a jardiniere without an inner 
pot, and an opening at the bottom acts as a 
drain. The same idea might be adopted 
with our native plants when in bloom, trans¬ 
planting them in jardinieres for the house 
while they are in bloom and returning them 
to the garden when their blossoms disappear. 


247 


HOME FURNISHING 


Among the jardinieres that may always be 
found in the Japanese ware is the white kind, 
printed in blue, and the terra-cotta. The first 
is well-suited to the dining table, for ferns or 
plants, and the other is useful in any part of 
the home. 

Hammered brass pots can be used when 
pottery fails to meet the colour scheme of 
the room, and the polished surface of the 
metal is distinctly useful in apartments that 
are lacking in sunlight. 

Modern potteries, such as the Grueby, 
Rookwood, Poillon, Merrimac, Newcomb and 
others, have made a valuable contribution to 
indoor garden effects by designing artistic tubs 
to hold bay, box and rubber trees. 

Holders for flower pots may be made at 
home from reed, willow and raffia, and while 
not capable of hard wear these holders often 
meet a temporary need better than heavy 
pottery. 

In buying vases to hold cut flowers a pretty 
shape may make a strong appeal to the pur- 

248 



A TREE TUB IN POTTERY A HAMMERED BRASS JARDINIERE A THREE-TIER STAND MADE 

OF WILLOW 
























































































































































BASKETS AND JARDINIERES 


chaser, but when put to the test of usefulness 
may prove quite disappointing. The prefer¬ 
ence should be for those simple in design, 
quiet in colour, with a firm base to support 
the weight of the flowers. 

In making a home in the country, a lover 
of flowers determined to accumulate no use¬ 
less bric-a-brac, but to gather instead a col¬ 
lection of vases and bowls to hold cut flowers. 
Certain pieces were kept in a closed cabinet; 
others were displayed on tables and shelves. 
Plain or iridescent glass was reserved for 
sweet peas; tall, tapering vases were used for 
roses; some Spanish pottery was dedicated 
to nasturtiums; large, cylindrical jars of dull 
green were brought out in the time of holly¬ 
hocks; and hardy chrysanthemums, the gar¬ 
den’s last contribution to the decoration of the 
house, were always placed in terra-cotta Mex¬ 
ican dishes. Such an assortment as this is not 
beyond the most limited income, and, chosen 
by degrees, contributes a continuous interest to 
the making of a home. 


249 


XXV 


THE AFTERNOON TEA TABLE 

The serving of a cup of tea is an interest¬ 
ing office for the home maker, who finds in 
it, beyond the simple act of hospitality, a 
field for practical and artistic furnishing. 

The evolution of the afternoon tea table 
is in many homes the outcome of experiments 
that work themselves out in some character¬ 
istic style. 

Afternoon tea on the porch may be the 
most delightful of feasts, if the details of its 
service have been made a matter of fore¬ 
thought and taste. A small table of bamboo 
and Japanese matting is light enough to be 
moved about easily, and there are willow 
three-tier stands for extra cups and saucers. 
A Chinese hour-glass chair is a picturesque 
accompaniment to the tea table, with the 
advantages of lightness and coolness for warm 


250 


THE AFTERNOON TEA TABLE 


weather. The equipment of linen and china 
for the porch tea table may be selected with 
reference to the location, as colour effects 
out-of-doors may be deeper and more strik¬ 
ing than those introduced in the interior of 
the house. The delicate pink and white or 
green and white tones that are so pleasing in 
the subdued light of indoors appear faded 
in the stronger, intense piazza light. Con¬ 
ventional shapes and colourings may be quite 
set aside in choosing the tea service for the 
porch and deep ecru or brown linen may 
be adopted for tray cloths, napkins, table 
spreads and doilies. 

A rustic arbour shaded with climbing roses 
and vines is an ideal setting for the tea table 
during the later hours of warm days. To 
avoid the trouble of transferring the tea things 
to and from the house, if the arbour is not 
close at hand, a waterproof locker may be 
built into one corner. A rustic table made 
of hickory or silver birch is durable and con¬ 
venient for this situation, and the garden 


251 


HOME FURNISHING 


tables and chairs imported from England 
and painted white or green are distinctively 
attractive. Rockers and armchairs may have 
their comfort increased by the addition of 
pillows and cushions brought out from the 
house. 

As the afternoon cup of tea is a movable 
feast, it is often served in the parlour or other 
formal room of the home. For such occasional 
use a table need not be kept set with the dishes 
and other paraphernalia of the tea service, 
to give a chance for the dust to gather and 
disarrangements to occur that would disturb 
the orderliness of the room. 

A tray may be arranged, however, in the 
dining room, with all the necessary articles 
for serving the tea, and carried into the par¬ 
lour, to be removed when its act of usefulness 
is over. The point to be met to make this 
manner of serving tea successful is to have 
some table in readiness in the parlour to re¬ 
ceive the tray. This is best accomplished 
by the possession of one of the old-fashioned 

252 


THE AFTERNOON TEA TABLE 


tip-tables reproduced now by furniture manu¬ 
facturers, with an arrangement under the 
top that unlocks and fastens automatically. 
The upright position when the table is not 
required for active service will insure its readi¬ 
ness at any moment for the tea tray, and its 
surface of polished mahogany, decorated with 
a band of inlay or a centre rosette, makes 
the tip-table an artistic acquisition for the 
parlour or drawing room. The round top, 
about twenty-four inches in diameter, is the 
best variety to use in connection with a large 
tray, but sometimes an oval top suits some 
especial place in the room better than the 
circular style. 

This method of serving tea has brought the 
tray into a popularity that it has not known 
since the days of our great-grandmothers. 
Then the establishing of the dining table was 
a matter of family pride, and silver and linen 
heirlooms were regarded with profound rever¬ 
ence. The large silver trays of Sheffield plate 
may still be found as inheritances from past 


253 


HOME FURNISHING 


generations, and silversmiths now try to pro¬ 
duce as good ones in imitation. These trays 
are too heavy for the afternoon tea table in 
the parlour; but an excellent substitute is 
the mahogany tray with a guard of the same 
material and handles of brass. Sometimes 
the wood has a sheet of plain glass laid over 
it as a protection from hot dishes, but this 
is apt to make it too heavy for easy lifting. 
Copper trays in hammered work, round or 
oval, may be found, and round ones in a light, 
figured brass made by the Japanese. A lac¬ 
quered tray by the same people is a delicate 
artistic addition for the serving of tea, but 
it requires an asbestos mat to protect its fine 
surface. The parlour tea service naturally 
makes a claim on the best that the house 
affords in china and linen. A set of Apostle 
spoons that has been gathered during a Con¬ 
tinental tour, souvenir spoons from different 
places in one’s own country, and others that 
have been handed down from earlier eras 
of tea makers, may distinguish this special 

254 


THE AFTERNOON TEA TABLE 


service. Old pieces of china that speak of 
bygone history are also of interest here. Most 
precious of all, because of its rarity, is the 
bit of homespun linen that may adorn the 
tray, the work of some thrifty, industrious 
ancestor. 

In some households the tea table has a 
daily usage at four or five o’clock, to break 
the long hours between an early luncheon 
and a late dinner. A two-tier table of oak 
or mahogany is helpful for this every-day 
service. The top is made considerably lower 
than in the ordinary small stand, so that a low 
chair or rocker may be used by the person who 
pours tea. Its size is ample for tea-making 
things, and an under shelf is added for extra 
cups and saucers, and supplies of crackers 
and sugar. 

The selection of china for an every-day tea 
table should accord with the idea for which 
it is adopted. Simple decoration that is pretty 
and serviceable should be the key-note, and 
conventional fittings must not be too rigor- 


255 


HOME FURNISHING 


ously followed at a loss of original charm. 
For a tete-a-tete cup of tea the silver tea ball 
answers all the purposes of the teapot. Tight 
tin boxes of sw T eet and plain biscuit may be 
ready, to fill the cracker jar, and a small jar 
of club cheese or Scotch marmalade, and In¬ 
dian preserves and rice wafers may be at 
hand for an emergency luncheon at the after¬ 
noon tea table. 

In a home where the afternoon tea was 
a daily institution a special room was reserved 
for the serving, and the furnishings carried 
out on a different plan from any of the other 
rooms in the house. The w T alls were covered 
with a warm, light-grey paper almost like 
parchment, and upon this background some 
old Japanese prints framed in narrow gold 
bands were hung. The colours that appeared 
in the prints were repeated in the curtains 
and rugs: pink in a fine cotton crepe, blues 
and greens mingled in the rug. The space 
between the two front windows was fitted 
with narrow shelves and painted a cool grey 

256 


THE AFTERNOON TEA TABLE 


like the woodwork. Some Japanese pottery 
was ranged on the shelves in colours and 
shapes that were fitting additions to the re¬ 
fined colourings elsewhere in the room. In 
the wide window sills some small jardinieres 
held ferns in the winter months, hyacinths 
and tulips in the spring and pansies in the 
summer. On dark afternoons the Chinese 
lanterns hanging from the ceiling were lighted, 
and candles with soft pink shades were placed 
on the tea table. The furniture was chosen 
chiefly from the Indian rattan make, chairs, 
lounges, stools and benches, with a wooden 
settle built entirely around one angle of the 
room and painted like the woodwork. 


25? 


XXVI 


SUMMER FURNISHINGS FOR THE COUNTRY 
HOUSE 

In the country home that is occupied only 
during the summer months the conventional 
rules for furnishing and decorating may be 
set aside for something more original, char¬ 
acteristic and unique. In each and every 
departure, however, from accepted lines, the 
idea of comfort should not be excluded. 

The common mistake in fitting up a summer 
home in the woods or by the sea is to intro¬ 
duce too many articles of a trivial nature, a 
style of furnishing that is obviously unsuited 
to the main objects that are sought for in 
vacation days—rest and recreation. Another 
incongruous element that may often be found 
in the country home of moderate-priced con¬ 
struction is an attempt to install all the lux¬ 
urious appointments of the modern hotel. A 

23S 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


useful simplicity is the true way to bring the 
temporary shelter into harmonious relations 
with its surroundings. 

If there are shutters at the windows one 
set of hangings may be the entire inner out¬ 
fit. In one country home a cretonne was 
hung at all of the windows in colours and 
designs to suit the different walls. In the 
bedrooms some chintz effects were adopted; 
in the living room some foliage patterns that 
resembled tapestry. The washable nature of 
this material, its good texture and interesting 
designs made it a pleasant change from muslin 
draperies. In making up the cretonne cur¬ 
tains a hem was sewed at the top of each 
breadth and rings attached to slip over a brass 
rod an inch in diameter. When the room 
needed screening or darkening the curtains were 
easily drawn across the glass. 

Awnings impart a great deal of style to the 
exterior of the country house in addition to 
their having a utilitarian object. Green-and- 
white stripes are cool-looking for homes with 


259 


HOME FURNISHING 


little foliage around them, but their fleeting 
colour makes them a luxury. Brown-and-white 
stripes fade to quiet tones of grey and white 
that harmonise with white houses with green 
blinds. Red-and-white stripes appear the best 
on well-shaded grounds and give a festive 
appearance to the home, but the colours are 
not permanent either in sun or rain. Orange- 
and-white stripes, in various widths, assim¬ 
ilate with stonework, weather-stained shingles 
or grey paint and this variety stands the ex¬ 
posure the best of any of the coloured duck 
that is used for awnings. 

In the furniture for the living room of the 
country home there is wide scope for making 
a picturesque interior. The contiguity of the 
piazza, lawn or garden may be remembered 
by selecting chairs and tables that may be 
easily transported from one place to the other. 
Some of the willow pieces fulfil this triple 
service, and the white canvas chairs, with arms, 
that are used on shipboard, may be chosen. 
A steamer chair may be folded together for 


260 



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COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


carrying about, and floor cushions may be 
shifted without trouble. 

A swinging settle may be hung near the 
fireplace if the ceiling beams will sustain its 
weight. The mission make is the heaviest, 
but lighter varieties are made in cane and 
willow. A single swinging seat has also been 
manufactured for rooms that are too small 
to accommodate the double size. A lounge 
chair made of willow or rattan makes a half- 
reclining bed that may be luxuriously fitted 
with cushions and pillows. Such a chair 
may be stationed in any part of the room, 
and does not exact the wall space needed by 
a lounge or sofa. A wide divan, however, 
is the acme of comfort, and a pine or maple 
frame fitted with a good spring and laid with 
a well-made mattress may, with a suitable 
cover and soft pillows, be as satisfactory as 
the most expensive kind of sofa. 

If a plain spread is laid over a divan, the 
same material may be used upon three large 
square pillows that are put at the back to 


HOME FURNISHING 


support others that are lighter in weight. 
Anyone who is expert in stencilling with colours 
may originate a divan cover with soft-finished 
burlap or denim and make a very creditable 
part of the furnishing at a slight expense. 
Besides the back pillows that are filled with 
moss or hair, some small ones of down and 
feathers may be covered with linen, cotton 
crepe, silkoline or gingham. 

If upholstered furniture must do duty dur¬ 
ing the warm weather, it may have slip covers 
of chintz in the glazed finish, or linen taffeta. 
The plain, striped linens may be reserved 
for the covers in rooms that are not occupied 
during the summer, but their lack of interest 
bars them from the living room in the country 
home. 

The production of painted furniture has 
been revived during the past few years, and 
if the painting can be accomplished at home 
the unfinished pieces may be bought at a 
less cost than when enamelled in colours. 

If small tables that are light in weight are 

262 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


chosen for the living room, their usefulness will 
extend out-of-doors. Willow, bamboo, matting, 
cane, rattan and wicker, each by itself or in 
combination with wood, make a variety, and 
the shapes may be round, square or oblong to 
fit into different niches. 

Covers for tables are not as much in demand 
as mats, but one or the other may be an in¬ 
dividualising note in the room. Round or 
square leather mats may be of undecorated 
materials, or the finest tooling may be added, 
or a border painted. Heavy linen cut in cir¬ 
cular shape may be ornamented with a wide 
band of embroidery in deep tones of a contrast¬ 
ing colour. 

The writing desk or table may be of lighter 
construction than the one in the town house, 
but should have the usual accommodations 
for note paper, pens, ink and other parapher¬ 
nalia for correspondence. If space is scant, 
a shelf on hinges, to turn down against the 
wall, when not in use, is a convenient place 
for writing or working. Such a table may 
263 


HOME FURNISHING 


be a valuable little serving stand in the dining 
room. 

A picture screen is a novelty that, intended 
originally for the living room of the country 
house, may be utilised with almost as much 
satisfaction in any other part. The upper 
portions of the panels are fitted with coloured 
prints that give a brief pictorial story of hunt¬ 
ing adventures. The lower part of the panel 
may be fitted with a textile fabric or the heavy 
coverings made for walls—crash or burlap. 
An expedient used for screening a corner of 
a living room when meals were in progress was 
effected with a large clothes-horse (the kind 
sold for laundry work) which was covered 
with a linen taffeta printed in a bold, floral 
design. 

An informal arrangement of prints may take 
the place of pictures which, in a town house, 
would need to be regularly framed and hung. 
A set of black-and-white sketches, a number 
of hunting scenes or some English posters, 
can be easily transported and tacked to the 
264 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


wall for the summer decoration. A number 
of coloured prints of Indian heads may be 
grouped under one mat and put up without 
further framing; or, a binding of dark paper 
and a glass may be given each separate print 
and all hung together on the wall. With so 
many inexpensive, pleasing pictures to draw 
from, the country home need not miss its share 
of pictorial effect. 

Some further wall decorations, that are 
significant of out-of-door life and sports, may 
be provided by the articles used in that con¬ 
nection—oars, floats, lanterns, pennants, guns 
and fishing rods. If flowers are not available, 
some green branches and vines may be gathered 
from fields and woods. Wooden boxes covered 
with bark may be placed on the steps and 
filled with red geraniums, to give colour to 
the exterior of the house at a small expend¬ 
iture of garden labour. 

Rugs of grass matting are the least expen¬ 
sive covering that can be put on the floors 
during the summer. As these are made in 

265 


HOME FURNISHING 


widths that run from three to twelve feet, 
and the length may be whatever is desired, 
they have a wide scope of usefulness. The 
colour tones are cool and unobtrusive, har¬ 
monising with any kind of woodwork or fur¬ 
niture. 

The rag rugs made of cotton strips woven 
by hand, if deep enough in colour, are a pleas¬ 
ant floor covering for the country living room. 
While the hand looms do not make wide enough 
rugs to lay entirely over a floor, the factory- 
made rugs on the same principle are as wide 
as nine feet. Scotch rugs are the most prac¬ 
tical ones for the living room owing to their good 
colours, permanent dyes and artistic designs. 
A further recommendation is the fact of their 
being woven for use on both sides. 

The fireplace is naturally the chief point 
of attraction in the interior of the country 
home. A broad, rugged treatment of stone¬ 
work or bricks is in better keeping here than 
smooth tiles and highly-finished wood. In 
one mountain home the hearth was dropped 

266 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


a few inches below the floor to make a low 
seat for the little ones in the family. In another 
house a tall settle was built on one side of 
the fireside as a stationary sitting place. A 
hob at right or left of the open fire is a cosy 
adjunct to an old-fashioned crane and swing¬ 
ing kettle. 

Dining rooms in the country are often fin¬ 
ished now in the white paint known as a colon¬ 
ial finish. The idea is being followed in tables 
and chairs in white enamel paint, and an old 
set of furniture that is in need of refinishing 
may receive the new treatment over the old 
shellac and stain. In a white dining room the 
cool interior will be further enhanced by a blue- 
and-white paper on the wall, plain blue linen 
curtains at the windows, and a rug of blue- 
and-green on the floor. 

A piazza that opens from the dining room, 
especially if it is away from the front entrance 
to the house, may be easily adapted to in¬ 
formal meals, breakfasts, luncheons or teas, 
if it is provided with tables and chairs. Linen 

267 


HOME FURNISHING 


mats may take the place of a large cloth, and 
a simple set of earthenware may be substituted 
for the better quality of china that is used 
indoors. Suitable for this use are some re¬ 
productions of the willow china which are 
quaint in shape, and some American pottery 
made for baking and serving which is at¬ 
tractive in colour. 

The bedrooms of the country house may 
receive a treatment full of simplicity and 
easeful charm. If a tinted wall is adopted 
the bed covering may be of a flowered pat¬ 
tern in cretonne, or art ticking or dimity; 
or, if a figured paper is applied to the walls, 
plain colours elsewhere will balance the effect. 
Bedside rugs woven in rag-style by hand, 
or the lengths sewed together to make a sin¬ 
gle large piece, may be the covering for the 
floor. If a carpet must be used, some of the 
mottled ingrains which give a tone without a 
pattern should be chosen. 

Toilet sets will supplement other attractions 
in this room if selected in good shapes and 

268 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


artistic decorations. The range is limited, 
however, and unless a set whose cost takes 
it beyond the proportion expended on other 
things is chosen the washing arrangements 
may prove disappointing. 

The home builder who can plan certain 
arrangements for summer comfort will not 
overlook the advantages of an upper piazza. 
At the front of the house, or in an exposed 
position, such a porch is practically useless; 
but when it is properly located with due pre¬ 
caution for privacy it will prove invaluable. 
An invalid who does not go downstairs will 
enjoy the fresh air and change of environment 
from the interior of the house; a child may 
take out-of-door naps under the protection 
of a roof and within easy reach of attention; 
the airing and cleaning of clothes is another 
use for which the second story piazza affords 
opportunity. 

The country home during the summer months 
has for a number of people only a transitory 
interest, as it must be hired furnished, and 

269 


HOME FURNISHING 


may not be occupied by them a second year. 
However complete the house in its equipment, 
the home atmosphere is missing in so tem¬ 
porary an abiding place. One family who 
made a rented cottage its home during the 
hot weather originated a movable motto which 
was transported with other small belongings 
from the town abode. A slab of chestnut 
was lettered in old English script: 

J^ome Wfyxt tfje ©eartf) 

and the words burned into the wood upon a 
background of dark-brown stain. Wherever 
the household put up its tent thereafter in 
vacation days, the movable motto became a 
feature of the fireside enjoyment. 

From this little hint other schemes may be 
evolved for imparting some touch of the fam¬ 
ily tastes to the rented home, if only by the 
carrying of cushion covers, a spread for the 
sofa, some unframed pictures, flower holders, 
and table mats. These may be slipped into 
the trunks that hold the clothing, with very 
270 


COUNTRY HOUSE FURNISHINGS 


slight additional pressure on the contents; and 
the trouble and expense of sending out a few 
rugs, a special chair or desk, or curtains and 
table china from the city dwelling will be more 
than compensated by the pleasure their familiar 
presence gives to the household. 


271 





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